<p>Deforestation does impact climate change and rainfall patterns. A <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/deforestation-has-driven-up-hottest-day-temperatures" rel="nofollow noreferrer">study in 2018</a> outlined some of the feedbacks, firstly the direct effect of releasing CO<sub>2</sub>. Changes in evapotranspiration from deforestation caused 33% of the observed increases in the temperature of the hottest days in regions with at least 15% deforestation. There can be a counter factor in that land albedo can change with deforestation, potentially reflecting more energy back to the sky.</p>
<p>The potential feedbacks are further developed in <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab738e" rel="nofollow noreferrer">recent work on the Amazon</a>. The direct feedbacks of deforestation on reducing rainfall were small relative to global changes, but cumulative effects can be large.  There is no reason not to think that similar feedbacks will have operated in historical contexts.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-24T01:18:47.820Z
So, it does increase the extremes, but does it increase the average annual temps? I asked about historical deforestation because large areas here in southeast Brazil used to be tropical/subtropical forests before the colonization that now have almost dissapeared and I wondered if this could have had an impact in local and global temperature annual averages.
Victor1995
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-25T21:10:11.913Z
I think the simple answer is yes, this could have changed local and  regional climate. However quantifying the effect is hard.
Andy M
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-23T14:18:10.417Z
2021-08-23T14:44:34.713Z
2021-08-23T14:44:34.713Z
Andy M
<p>Did human-caused deforestation impacted climate and rainfall patterns in the past?
I'm asking this because I don't know much about the impact of forest cover loss and evapotranspiration on global climate.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-23T02:55:07.607Z
Are you only interested in past human-caused deforestation? Natural events (flooding, landslides, pests) can also cause deforestation.
LShaver
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-23T03:59:24.603Z
I'm interested in the relationship between forest cover, evapotranspiration and temperatures, I asked about man-made because I assume we had a bigger impact than natural events.
Victor1995
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-23T12:10:41.857Z
The question is not if, but how much. Aside of affected VIS and thermal IR energy balance and water cycle, deforestation is equivalent to extra CO2 emission, that does affect global parameters.
Poutnik
<climate-change><paleoclimatology><climatology><deforestation>
Does deforestation increase global temperatures or just local temperatures?
Victor1995
# Does deforestation increase global temperatures or just local temperatures?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-08-23)

Did human-caused deforestation impacted climate and rainfall patterns in the past?
I'm asking this because I don't know much about the impact of forest cover loss and evapotranspiration on global climate.

**Tags:** climate-change, paleoclimatology, climatology, deforestation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Are you only interested in past human-caused deforestation? Natural events (flooding, landslides, pests) can also cause deforestation.  
> **username_0**: I'm interested in the relationship between forest cover, evapotranspiration and temperatures, I asked about man-made because I assume we had a bigger impact than natural events.  
> **username_2**: The question is not if, but how much. Aside of affected VIS and thermal IR energy balance and water cycle, deforestation is equivalent to extra CO2 emission, that does affect global parameters.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2021-08-23. Score: 2

Deforestation does impact climate change and rainfall patterns. A [study in 2018](https://www.carbonbrief.org/deforestation-has-driven-up-hottest-day-temperatures) outlined some of the feedbacks, firstly the direct effect of releasing CO2. Changes in evapotranspiration from deforestation caused 33% of the observed increases in the temperature of the hottest days in regions with at least 15% deforestation. There can be a counter factor in that land albedo can change with deforestation, potentially reflecting more energy back to the sky.

The potential feedbacks are further developed in [recent work on the Amazon](https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab738e). The direct feedbacks of deforestation on reducing rainfall were small relative to global changes, but cumulative effects can be large. There is no reason not to think that similar feedbacks will have operated in historical contexts.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: So, it does increase the extremes, but does it increase the average annual temps? I asked about historical deforestation because large areas here in southeast Brazil used to be tropical/subtropical forests before the colonization that now have almost dissapeared and I wondered if this could have had an impact in local and global temperature annual averages.  
> **username_3**: I think the simple answer is yes, this could have changed local and  regional climate. However quantifying the effect is hard.  

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