A process‐based investigation into the impact of the Congo basin deforestation on surface climate

Abstract The sensitivity of climate to the loss of the Congo basin rainforest through changes in land cover properties is examined using a regional climate model. The complete removal of the Congo basin rainforest results in a dipole rainfall anomaly pattern, characterized by a decrease (∼−42%) in rainfall over the western Congo and an increase (∼10%) in the basin's eastern part. Three further experiments systematically examine the individual response to the changes in albedo, surface roughness, and evapotranspiration efficiency that accompany deforestation. The increased albedo (∼) caused by the Congo basin rainforest clearance results in cooler and drier climate conditions over the entire basin. The drying is accompanied with a reduction in available surface energy. Reducing evapotranspiration efficiency or roughness length produces similar positive air temperature anomaly patterns. The decreased evapotranspiration efficiency leads to a dipole response in rainfall, similar to that resulting from a reduced surface roughness following Congo basin rainforest clearance. This precipitation anomaly pattern is strongly linked to the change in low‐level water vapor transport, the influence of the Rift valley highlands, and the spatial pattern of water recycling activity. The climate responds linearly to the separate albedo, surface roughness, and evapotranspiration efficiency changes, which can be summed to produce a close approximation to the impact of the full deforestation experiment. It is suggested that the widely contrasting climate responses to deforestation in the literature could be partly due to the relative magnitude of change of the radiative and nonradiative parameterizations in their respective land surface schemes.