Adaptation strategies in Europe: the biophysical impact of forest cover change on climate simulated at high spatial resolution

Forests can significantly influence local climate both by altering the carbon cycle (biogeochemical effects) and changing the surface energy budget (biophysical effects). Recent debates on the impacts of forestry and deforestation on the climate have focussed on trees' capacity to store carbon, but usually, the biogeophysical implications are not taken into account. In this study, we explore how regional-scale forestation and deforestation affect the Earth's energy balance, which in turn affect temperature and precipitation. We perform simulations where the vegetation cover is either increased or decreased while the carbon dioxide mixing ratio is kept constant, at a convection-permitting grid spacing of 5 km over the larger European domain using the regional climate model (RegCM4) coupled with CLM4.5. Over a time window of 11 years from 2004 to 2014, we study how the change in the forest cover affects the main atmospheric variables both at local level (local effects) and in the neighborhood (non-local effects). The need for a comprehensive understanding of how forests and climate impact each other is nowadays particularly relevant for Europe, and our analysis is one step forward in the direction of supporting the design of new policies and adaptation plans by pointing out the areas where afforestation efforts could mitigate the effects of climate change. This would improve the design of ambitious environmental policies like the European Green Deal project.