Importance of soil moisture conservation in mitigating climate change

[Display omitted] A troubling feedback loop, where drier soil contributes to hotter climates, has been widely recognized. This study, drawing on climate model simulations, reveals that maintaining current global soil moisture levels could significantly alleviate 32.9% of land warming under low-emiss...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science bulletin (Beijing) 2024-05, Vol.69 (9), p.1332-1341
Main Authors: Zuo, Zhiyan, Qiao, Liang, Zhang, Renhe, Chen, Deliang, Piao, Shilong, Xiao, Dong, Zhang, Kaiwen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Climate change signal
Environmental Sciences
Global warming
Miljövetenskap
Nature -based solutions
Soil moisture
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Summary:[Display omitted] A troubling feedback loop, where drier soil contributes to hotter climates, has been widely recognized. This study, drawing on climate model simulations, reveals that maintaining current global soil moisture levels could significantly alleviate 32.9% of land warming under low-emission scenarios. This action could also postpone reaching critical warming thresholds of 1.5 °C and 2.0 °C by at least a decade. Crucially, preserving soil moisture at current levels could prevent noticeable climate change impacts across 42% of the Earth's land, a stark deviation from projections suggesting widespread impacts before the 2060s. To combat soil drying, afforestation in mid-to-low latitude regions within the next three decades is proposed as an effective strategy to increase surface water availability. This underscores the substantial potential of nature-based solutions for managing soil moisture, benefiting both climate change mitigation and ecological enhancement.
ISSN:2095-9273
2095-9281
DOI:10.1016/j.scib.2024.02.033