Climate Study: CO2 Fertilized Plant Growth will Deplete Global Water Supplies

Man holds chainsaw in forest
Man holds chainsaw in forest. By U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

According to a new study, increased transpiration from CO2 engorged plants will return more water vapour to the atmosphere, reducing runoff available to fill reservoirs.

Mid-latitude freshwater availability reduced by projected vegetation responses to climate change

Justin S. MankinRichard SeagerJason E. SmerdonBenjamin I. Cook & A. Park Williams 

Published: 04 November 2019

Abstract
Plants are expected to generate more global-scale runoff under increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations through their influence on surface resistance to evapotranspiration. Recent studies using Earth System Models from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project ostensibly reaffirm this result, further suggesting that plants will ameliorate the dire reductions in water availability projected by other studies that use aridity metrics. Here we complicate this narrative by analysing the change in precipitation partitioning to plants, runoff and storage in multiple Earth system models under both high carbon dioxide concentrations and warming. We show that projected plant responses directly reduce future runoff across vast swaths of North America, Europe and Asia because bulk canopy water demands increase with additional vegetation growth and longer and warmer growing seasons. These runoff declines occur despite increased surface resistance to evapotranspiration and vegetation total water use efficiency, even in regions with increasing or unchanging precipitation. We demonstrate that constraining the large uncertainty in the multimodel ensemble with regional-scale observations of evapotranspiration partitioning strengthens these results. We conclude that terrestrial vegetation plays a large and unresolved role in shaping future regional freshwater availability, one that will not ubiquitously ameliorate future warming-driven surface drying.

Read more: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-019-0480-x

Sadly the full study is paywalled, but I think we get the idea; Plants are bad. The study suggests anything which increases transpiration, like anthropogenic CO2 emissions or presumably other changes which lead to increased transpiration, like planting trees, increases stress on the global supply of fresh water.

Of course, there are a few contradictory studies which suggest rainfall decreases if trees are cleared, studies which suggest plant transpiration plays an important positive role in the water cycle, but these studies are based on observations rather than climate projections.

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Earthling2
November 5, 2019 10:09 am

You would think with more evapotranspiration being recycled throughout the atmosphere, that there would be more atmospheric water to return as rain, perhaps somewhere else downwind. I think this study is about as bad as that faller trying to fall the tree with that atrocious undercut. He is probably going to hurt himself…

Jit
Reply to  Earthling2
November 5, 2019 10:23 am

Er, the evapotranspiration is surely going to be lower because there are going to be fewer stomata….

Bryan A
Reply to  Jit
November 5, 2019 12:19 pm

If you want to see the effect of increased plant mass/metrics on Evapotranspiration and rainfall you need look no further than tha Amazon Rain Forest.
Generally increasing plant quantity in a given area leads to a more lush environment and slightly increased precipitation ammounts.

greg
Reply to  Jit
November 5, 2019 12:55 pm

Jit, you just don’t get it do you. You seem to think reason and logical deduction has something to do with climate porn ( sorry I mean science).

More “run off” would be a catastrophic risk of more flooding; less “run off” would be causing more drought and forest fires. No change would be a catastrophe because it’s “business as usual” which we already know is a catastrophe and it’s happening here and now !!

Whether it led to more , less or exactly the same amount of “run off” , or anything else , it would still be a catastrophe with severe warning attached. WE MUST ACT NOW! Please stop eating meat. Please stop having children , please stop existing.

“because bulk canopy water demands increase with additional vegetation growth”

so I guess they will tell Brazil to go ahead with chopping down the rest of Amazonian rain forest because it is reducing ‘run off’ into the Amazon. Greenies will now be chopping down all the nasty trees they can find to save the planet.

Yes, the reason there is more greening on Earth with more CO2 is because CO2, like water, is one of the limiting factors of nearly all plant growth anywhere and more CO2 means they can reduce their stomata and grow more with the SAME available water resources.

But we all know that climate models perfectly reproduce the key processes of the water cycle, like evaporation, transpiration, condensation, cloud formation and precipitation based on “basic physics” which has been know for centuries. So there is no reason to think they are any more wrong about this projection of their virtual world than anything else they make up.

Reply to  greg
November 5, 2019 1:06 pm

greg: Holy Bat Cheese Greg! I’d love to partake in hardline response to the Left with you as a supporter in the house. I’m usually flanked by the Left all around and take incoming from all sides. I feel like everyone around me knows they have nothing to add to the debate, but they also get angry at all of the good news I provide that their fears are irrational. It’s hard to debate using facts when most people lack an understanding of physics, science, or even basic math.
It’s a MAD MAD MAD MAD world.

Alan Robertson
Reply to  mario lento
November 6, 2019 4:55 am

Not to question The Party’s new truth; I only want to know if this applies equally to all plant genders.

Reply to  Alan Robertson
November 6, 2019 7:40 am

Alan Robertson wrote: “Not to question The Party’s new truth; I only want to know if this applies equally to all plant genders.”

Luckily when I ask someone, whom I know if far left, which of the 50 genders they prefer, I get an eye roll. I think we need to raise awareness of just how backwards the idea is. I often ask how changing the meanings of words helps with communication?

For example, recently, I asked someone why they wanted to be labeled as a Latino. They were not aware that Latin came from Italy, and that although my descendants are in fact from Italy, we do not identify as Latino. So why would people from one of some dozens of countries mostly in the Americas, who were conquered by Spain, choose to obfuscate where they came from by using a label that emanated from Italy?

Blank stare

Andy Mansell
Reply to  greg
November 6, 2019 6:23 am

I thought they wanted to stop us eating meat and make us, (sorry, persuade us), to eat plants instead, so surely we can just eat all the excess plants? You have to laugh at all the contradictions- tree huggers will presumably now become tree fellers and blame us for planting all the extra trees that they demanded…..just as they blame us for driving the diesel cars that they demanded we use because of lower emissions, which anyone who’s ever seen an engine told them was nonsense. Just as I was starting to think a greener world was a better one….

Reply to  Earthling2
November 5, 2019 10:26 am

This technique can be used on smaller diameter trees where there would be insufficient room to bang a wedge in behind the bar when completing the back cut.

The larger open face cut in that picture the faller has made is to hold the tree longer before the face closes and the tree hinge wood is broken. In fact having a face angle over 90 degrees where you will hold the tree all the way to the ground and have the butt end remaining attached to the stump …. provides exceptional control.

References:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLkgWFh9lDs

shrnfr
Reply to  Eric Frei
November 5, 2019 10:59 am

Thank you for your cutting remarks.

brians356
Reply to  shrnfr
November 5, 2019 12:12 pm

Now that’s cutting to the chase.

Zig Zag Wanderer
Reply to  brians356
November 5, 2019 1:58 pm

Our is a cut above the usual comments…

greg
Reply to  shrnfr
November 5, 2019 2:20 pm

don’t be saw about it.

S.K. Jasper
Reply to  greg
November 5, 2019 4:14 pm

Okay, just cut it out already!

BCBill
Reply to  Eric Frei
November 5, 2019 12:08 pm

I don’t knoooow!!!!!!!! His notch is so shallow that there is plenty of room for a wedge. And what is he doing with the tip of the bar- obviously something because he standing right in front of the tree poking at it. I am standing way back.

When you could no longer see a logical pathway of physics through the models they became silly nonscience. When the sawman started poking into an open faced notch with the tip of the bar, it became a photo op.

Earthling2
Reply to  Eric Frei
November 5, 2019 12:20 pm

That undercut serves no purpose which is now essentially the saw kerf. By the time it makes contact with the lower notched face to lift the tree and break the hinge wood, the tree will already be flat on the ground. Not only that, but he has the tip of the bar (which can be real dangerous) cutting further into the undercut and completely destroying the purpose of any real undercut which should only be a max of 45 degrees. Meaning he has to cut off more of the holding wood and then his back cut is meeting the excessive undercut he is making with the tip of the bar and the tree can fall any direction that has any remaining hinge wood or the direction it is leaning.

This is how accidents happen and people die. We have a saying…the small ones hurt, but you don’t feel the big ones. You control the hinge wood by the amount of holding wood you leave, (and direction of fall) hopefully by having a perfect undercut that isn’t cut any deeper than the V notch of the undercut. Everything about the picture of that faller is wrong, except for the safety equipment he is wearing, which from the looks of things he will need. However, it is a very apt photo given the less than stellar article.

icisil
Reply to  Earthling2
November 5, 2019 1:33 pm

I talked with some Asplundh guys when they were clearing my power ROW. They do that cut to keep the tree from kicking up and off the stump when it goes down. I failed to do that on a large tree that was leaning towards my power line. There was plenty of room to drop and miss, but the low angle cut I made caused the tree to pop off the stump as it went down, and because it was on a slope it carried far enough away from the stump to slap the line. Fortunately the recloser only activated once. Popped my breaker, but no one else on the main line lost power. If I had remembered to do that cut, that wouldn’t have happened.

Reply to  icisil
November 7, 2019 7:58 am

icisil,

I think it was kicked off by the LIMBER branches of the tree you felled. This is WHY the open faced V shaped notch is the safest way to deal with that problem, you can use the trunk of the tree to control some of the bounce back effect.

Dead trees are safer to cut down as they no longer have that limber branches bounce back problem, they crash into the ground with little bounce back, as the branches breaks easily.

I have operated chainsaws with bars as long as 3 feet, which in part determines how to set up the notch. I have often cut out some of the limber branches on the downfall side of trees, BEFORE cutting the tree down, to greatly reduce bounce back effects.

Gary Wescom
Reply to  Eric Frei
November 5, 2019 12:26 pm

I’ve no problem with the wide hinge cut but the photo shows the tip of the bar cutting into the hinge wood. That kinda makes for an unreliable hinge, possibly breaking well before the hinge opening closes.

Reply to  Gary Wescom
November 7, 2019 7:59 am

Agreed, it is dumb and dangerous as kickback is possible.

Samuel C Cogar
Reply to  Eric Frei
November 5, 2019 12:29 pm

Eric Frei November 5, 2019 at 10:26 am

Eric, I suggest you leave “cutting trees” with a chainsaw to someone who knows how to use one.

Bout everything you said …… is bad advice.

Ya don’t need a wedge when cutting “smaller diameter” trees ….. unless a stuck chain.

And …. “the larger open face cut in that picture” will never close and won’t act as a “hinge” for the log to jump-the-stump.

And …… “having a face angle over 90 degrees” ….. is a joke, ….. and ya might be able to have the “hinge” …….. “hold the tree all the way to the ground and have the butt end remaining attached to the stump” … if your face cut angle is a 45 degree “up-cut” …. instead of that pictured “down-cut”.

greg
Reply to  Samuel C Cogar
November 5, 2019 1:07 pm

it seems everyone is an expert when it comes to tree felling. Though always those who did that job were called tree-fellers not fellers, not fallers.

There is a technique where the centre third of the hinge is cut away so that may be what he is doing with the tip of the bar here. Anyone who thinks there is only one way to fell a tree and thinks they know what it is, probably does not know that much about tree felling ( or falling ).

Robert of Ottawa
Reply to  greg
November 5, 2019 7:52 pm

OK Everyone’s a lumberjack

Samuel C Cogar
Reply to  greg
November 6, 2019 4:40 am

Eric Frei November 5, 2019 at 2:08 pm

Sam Cogar

I’m an arborist, 21 years experience, bus loads of qualifications, I know my job.

Everything I have said is accurate and correct.

So, you are a “tree surgeon”, …. HUH. …. Where at, …. downtown New York City, maybe?

Ells bells, ….. Eric, ….. you don’t have a clue what a “90 degree angle” is, ….. let alone claiming to be an “expert” arborist offering this advice, to wit:

[Eric Frei – November 5, 2019 at 10:26 am] “In fact having a face angle over 90 degrees where you will hold the tree all the way to the ground …..

Eric F, ….. ask your mommy, ….. I’m sure she will tell you that to “cut a face angle over 90 degrees” …. one would have to start the “cut” from the back side of the tree and cut clear through it.

icisil
Reply to  greg
November 6, 2019 5:48 am

Sam, look at that video he posted. Those angles are 90* or greater.

Samuel C Cogar
Reply to  greg
November 6, 2019 11:44 am

icisil, I don‘t watch videos.

But I will agree if one performs a 46 degree “uppercut” to the perpendicular ….. and then a 46 degree “downcut” to the perpendicular then it would result in a 92 degree “wedge” cut, …… which doing said would not only be extremely dangerous, tiresome, wasteful and time consuming, ….. but kinda silly if cutting timber that is 24” or greater in diameter.

Eric Frei is surely paid handsomely for pruning or removing one widdle ole tree, but iffen he was cutting his winter firewood ….. it would take him all winter to get it cut down …… and all summer to get it cut up and hauled out of the woods.

Reply to  Samuel C Cogar
November 5, 2019 2:08 pm

Sam Cogar

I’m an arborist, 21 years experience, bus loads of qualifications, I know my job.

Everything I have said is accurate and correct.

You should use a wedge or pull rope unless the tree is forward leaning, it is called backing up your cut and also gets the tree going. Sometimes you have breezes and unevenly weighted or interfering caught up canopies. The wedge not only prevents the tree from “sitting back” on the bar but also lifts the tree so it commences the fall if stalled.

When the notch face closes the hinge wood is broken. Until that hinge wood is broken the control of the hinge remains. The jumping of the stump is not always required. In fact when felling up hill it is common the tree comes back onto or over the stump so having a wider face notch that doesn’t close helps hold the tree from returning.

Often loggers use an inverted face cut so the butt end of the log is square and saves a bit of wood, and the angle of the notch is left in the stump, it’s called a humbolt notch.

Here’s a link to some notches, explains a bit. Also the optimum angle of the notch when up a tree and felling a section out onto rigging is 70 degrees. The reason is the physics for the whiplash created and the hinge breaking. If a section of tree had a 45 degree angle notch aloft, at 45 degrees the bending momentum is at it’s maximum pushing the stem below the cut backwards. If at that time the hinge breaks then there is additional load so avoiding that scenario is wise as it can shake the climber loose …. who may cop injury including broken ribs. The 70 degree notch allows the backward bend of the trunk to commence return to vertical, the downward momentum of the cut piece and breaking of hinge wood at this position means a lot less shaking. Tests under slow cameras have shown that to be the best angle.

For others who have commented about doing the plunge cut reducing the hinge wood it’s no big deal. Ever felled hollow trees? How about a open face hollow tree?

Link:- https://firewoodhoardersclub.com/forums/threads/felling-which-notch-to-use.21176/

greg
Reply to  Eric Frei
November 5, 2019 2:40 pm

from the lean on that tree, it looks like he’s starting on the wrong side unless he’s got it well roped up already. I’ll bet after that photo they put the Stihl “pro” and the pants back in the box, left the tree with a wedge hacked out of it, sent the male model back to the agency and went home.

BCBill
Reply to  Eric Frei
November 5, 2019 5:47 pm

It is hard to imagine why he would want to reduce the hinge wood with a plunge cut.

Hugs
Reply to  Eric Frei
November 6, 2019 12:16 am

A good one. An arborist probably pays much more attention to felling a single tree than a random lumberjack (which is profession much disappeared anyway).

There are many ways to kill the cat, and I have no reason to believe the guy in the picture is not knowing what he does. It looks like a straight small pine, probably not very difficult to take down safely if there is no powerline or other structure nearby.

My qualifications. Have been using a chainsaw, have seen a lot of tree-felling. Would leave it to a professional after certain size.

Reply to  Eric Frei
November 7, 2019 8:10 am

Eric,

Your link left out something critical, which amuses me because real loggers would know why that critical omission is a major safety issue. Especially when they survived their first injury which makes them lose interest in the too early broken hinge method.

I agree with Samuel, you lack the understanding on how to cut down large trees safely.

greg
Reply to  Eric Frei
November 5, 2019 1:12 pm

palming butts is becoming quite popular sport:
https://youtu.be/1TCjkdUJNeM

Charles Higley
Reply to  Earthling2
November 5, 2019 10:46 am

“CO2 engorged plants”? What a disgusting picture. I hate it when that happens.

Plants decrease their stomata numbers as CO2 rises and they thus decreases transpiration, os it is hard to see what he is getting at. Or is he just against there being more plants?

“constraining the large uncertainty in the multimodel ensemble”

Ah, there is it. Models always suck, it seems. They had to contain the large uncertailty to mimic certainty and then they tell up about their new found GIGO results.

Bryan A
Reply to  Charles Higley
November 5, 2019 12:22 pm

Wouldn’t more plants with smaller leaf stomata yield a similar evapotranspiration factor as fewer plants with larger leaf stomata?

Farmer Ch E retired
Reply to  Charles Higley
November 6, 2019 6:31 am

Sadly this study may be presented at conference where significant quantity of CO2 will be emitted flying one or more of the authors. We’ll have to cut down another tree to compensate./s

commieBob
Reply to  Earthling2
November 5, 2019 11:09 am

The file’s name is “Man_holds_chainsaw_in_forest”. I hope it’s not running.

It occurs to me that modelling is akin to arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. It’s like scholasticism powered by supercomputers.

greg
Reply to  commieBob
November 5, 2019 2:19 pm

“Man_holds_chainsaw_in_forest”, very truthful title. Not to be confused with the companion photo : man_USING_chainsaw_in_forest.

This is obviously staged, no saw dust anywhere. Sun angle looks like middle of the day yet he is spotlessly clean. Brand new gloves and leg protection. What time did he start work.

Photographer ordered “strong working man” type model for photoshoot between noon and 1pm for new Stihl catalogue.

Original Mike M
Reply to  Earthling2
November 5, 2019 11:38 am

No smoke + no chips = staged photo.

greg
Reply to  Original Mike M
November 5, 2019 2:02 pm

very good point. He also looks suspiciously clean , not a spot of saw dust on him, anywhere. I wonder who made the first cut for him.

Looks more like a photo for a work safety brochure or a sales catalogue where they legally have to show a demo photo with every possible safety accessory otherwise some ahole will sue them when they loose a finger.

Probably he’s an model agency hire for days photo shooting for Stihl.

Ron Long
Reply to  Earthling2
November 5, 2019 11:42 am

As an Oregon boy, Douglas County, growing up and falling trees, I agree with Earthling2 the guy in the photo is not doing anything correctly. Falling a tree this small requires a good notch cut (on the side you want it to fall) not that slab cut he has made, then an angled downward falling cut. Go ahead and find all the videos you want to show fools doing whatever, you can’t fool an Oregon boy. Just Saying!

As regards envirotranspiration and other fantasies the Age Of The Dinosaurs is my template. High CO2, big plants, giant animals, and great wines.

brians356
Reply to  Ron Long
November 5, 2019 12:14 pm

Are you a real Oregon boy? Let’s see your feet …

Ron Long
Reply to  brians356
November 5, 2019 12:32 pm

They have mold on them from all of the damned rain.

greg
Reply to  Ron Long
November 5, 2019 1:54 pm

damned rain, damned run off, obviously caused by all those trees you have up there: exactly what our models predicted.

greg
Reply to  Ron Long
November 5, 2019 1:52 pm

Ah, great wines indeed, good old Pinotsaurus Noir, can’t beat it. Sadly, I can’t afford to drink wines of that vintage every day now.

Komrade Kuma
Reply to  Earthling2
November 5, 2019 12:43 pm

THes so called scientists have no understanding of the actual processes they ‘study’ theyt just pick on some parameter and extrapolate it without any theought of interaction, feedbck or any other touch of reality.

Its all about the headline and getting funding.

Captain Climate
Reply to  Komrade Kuma
November 5, 2019 2:08 pm

Exactly

Robertvd
Reply to  Earthling2
November 6, 2019 1:12 am

They now have proven the land dinosaurs went extinct because of thirst. Life in the oceans would have gone extinct much earlier because of ocean acidity level because of much higher CO2 levels than today.

Robertvd
Reply to  Earthling2
November 6, 2019 1:15 am

Does the study include the albedo effect of radiating green light back to space?

walt
Reply to  Earthling2
November 6, 2019 10:14 am

The tree might knock sense into the faller,
but that assumes a reasonable response on his part.

Gumnut
Reply to  Earthling2
November 6, 2019 5:03 pm

It’s only a moderately small pine. The degree of difficulty is not high.

In Australia, our degree of difficulty is routunely off the charts. There’d be a dozen greenies hanging off that one tree and a watching person of indeterminate gender with a degree in advanced enviro-wokeness ready to book you for killing the planet.

Thus, how one does it is largely irrelevant. Pain is probably coming either way.

There’s a reason why bushcraft survival shows don’t film Down Under. We’re buried under green tape.

Uncle Max
November 5, 2019 10:14 am

So erosion mitigation bad… ergo even the re-meadowing movement of the great plains… bad. Paving large areas to encourage runoff .. good. Got it.

Sunny
November 5, 2019 10:15 am

Is this way Germany cut down 600 acres of forest so they could put seven, yes just seven wind generators there 😐 Why waste money on planting trees, lets cut them all down.

Joe Wagner
Reply to  Sunny
November 5, 2019 11:25 am

Joni Mitchell was just ahead of her time, I guess.

Zig Zag Wanderer
November 5, 2019 10:16 am

Because water vapour in the atmosphere will never, ever fall as rain, and disappear forever, obviously.

November 5, 2019 10:16 am

The abstract is rife with double negatives… it would be nice if it was written clearly.

CO2 will increase plant growth because plants grow more efficiently with increased CO2. More plant growth is a bad. We must reduce global greening because models say so!

Disputin
Reply to  mario lento
November 5, 2019 11:40 am

“it would be nice if it was written clearly. ”
If it was written clearly it would be obvious what rubbish it is.

Reply to  Disputin
November 5, 2019 11:51 am

Disputin: Absolutely… The abstract struggled to get words in so that it could obfuscate from reality.
CO2, the main nutrient without which no life exists, is being demonized by the anti life Left.
I enjoy when I see the utter disbelief from the Left who deny the world is greening until I take them to NASA and WUWT to show that CO2 is the reason for the greening. They are in further disbelief when I ask them, “How is limiting CO2 considered to be green then?” The response is either, “You’re a denier” or “Oh my goodness…” seed planted.

Further, this weekend, an art professor budded in when I answered a question about the real cause of CA’s wild fires. She said, “the fires are what you’d expect from Climate Change”. I said, would you also think that weather is getting more extreme, more hurricanes, storms and tornadoes?” She said yes of course. I said, well, the EPA disagrees with you. She called me a Climate Denier. I said, nice, a college professor ascends to her level of competency through ad hominem… because she doesn’t want to know the truth… She went onto “The scientists say…”

I asked if she could name a scientist who says… and what specifically they said? Nothing… deer in the headlights…

Later on I spent some time showing her around and she was amazed to learn a few things. Humbling to her and another seed planted.

greg
Reply to  mario lento
November 5, 2019 1:41 pm

nice work getting someone like that to listen long enough to plant seeds but if those seeds grow into trees that will cause more run off and you won’t be thanked !

Reply to  greg
November 5, 2019 1:45 pm

Greg:” but if those seeds grow into trees that will cause more run off and you won’t be thanked !…”

Reminds me of Bernie: “I hate Millionaires”… “no.. no, Now that I’m a millionaire, I hate Billionaires”

Graemethecat
Reply to  mario lento
November 6, 2019 12:57 am

Good work, changing minds one at a time.

I love that deer in the headlights look from confronting True Believers in CAGW with actual evidence.

Reply to  Graemethecat
November 6, 2019 7:42 am

“I love that deer in the headlights look from confronting True Believers in CAGW with actual evidence.”
Graemethecat: Thank you. It is satisfying, where it used to be frustrating

Andy Mansell
Reply to  mario lento
November 6, 2019 6:35 am

I for one am ‘triggered’ when someone calls me a denier and demand they be taken away and executed whilst I find a safe space…..

Reply to  Andy Mansell
November 6, 2019 7:27 am

Andy: “for one am ‘triggered’ when someone calls me a denier”

Me too… I found that when people resort to Ad Hominems, it’s really because they have no intelligent thing to say… so they tear the messenger down instead of providing enlightenment.

Bryan A
Reply to  mario lento
November 5, 2019 12:25 pm

Not just models but “Highly Constrained Models”

Reply to  Bryan A
November 5, 2019 12:28 pm

Dangerously unfit for purpose models.

Ed Zuiderwijk
November 5, 2019 10:18 am

Ah. Every silver lining has its cloud.

But no matter. They are ‘projections’, not actual measurements.

TRM
Reply to  Ed Zuiderwijk
November 5, 2019 10:36 am

More like “every silver cloud has a dark lining” LMAO.

Latitude
Reply to  Ed Zuiderwijk
November 5, 2019 11:25 am

we’re in some sick world where even more plants is a bad thing

Goldilocks and the 3 bears

kwinterkorn
Reply to  Ed Zuiderwijk
November 5, 2019 11:29 am

yes. you cannot affirm, confirm, or reaffirm a theory (ie a computer model) with a run of that model. Only data from the world can do that.

Running a model produces quantification of the theory used to create the model. Then measurements must be made in the real world, or it at least in the lab in a controlled experiment to confirm or deny the theory (model.

The entire scare-mongering enterprise of the climate crisis alarmists is based on computer models which are mostly failing to make accurate predictions about the world we actually live in.

Doug
Reply to  kwinterkorn
November 5, 2019 3:58 pm

Very useful statement. Okay if I borrow it for my next argument with warmists?

DocSiders
November 5, 2019 10:19 am

I call foul.

Earth surface drying will decline with more vegetation. Runoff will decline which increases aquifer refilling rates.

Transpiration from leaves decreases significantly with tiny increases in atmospheric CO2 concentrations.

In the remote eventuality that more and healthier vegetation turns out to be a bad thing, WE COULD ALWAYS USE THE CALIFORNIA SOLUTION.

Another non-problem solved.

KcTaz
Reply to  DocSiders
November 5, 2019 11:22 am

“In the remote eventuality that more and healthier vegetation turns out to be a bad thing, WE COULD ALWAYS USE THE CALIFORNIA SOLUTION.”

Or, we could use the DRAX biomass power plant solution.
The Obvious Biomass Emissions Error
Anthony Watts
http://bit.ly/2YXSJre
February 7, 2019
Hailed as “the biggest decarbonization project in Europe,” this facility now consumes about 9 million tons of wood pellets per year, shipped 3,000 miles from the US and Canada.
An estimated 4,600 square miles of forest are needed to feed the voracious Drax plant, with acres of forest felled each day.
Green Shock: Entire Forests Being Murdered to Produce Wood Pellet Biomass

http://bit.ly/2OHpODJ

Garland Lowe
November 5, 2019 10:24 am

When articles start with any of the following:

According to a new study
Researchers have found
According to scientist

What usually follows is a bunch of BS.

Where have all the scientist gone? Long time passing
Where have all the scientist gone? Long time ago
Where have all the scientist gone? Feeding off the gov’t everyone
When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?

Jeff Alberts
Reply to  Garland Lowe
November 5, 2019 5:33 pm

Plural fail.

Garland Lowe
Reply to  Jeff Alberts
November 6, 2019 8:45 am

My bad.
scientists

Marv
November 5, 2019 10:28 am

“We show that projected plant responses directly reduce future runoff across vast swaths of North America, Europe and Asia because bulk canopy water demands increase with additional vegetation growth and longer and warmer growing seasons.”

“additional vegetation and longer and warmer growing seasons” = a bad thing. Got it.

Farmer Ch E retired
Reply to  Marv
November 6, 2019 6:18 am

I’m really confused after reading this article. Is it better to plant a tree or cut one down???
That’s what I love about climate science – it keeps you guessing.

November 5, 2019 10:29 am

What then is this “Carbon Pollution”?

A sinister, evil collusion?

CO2, it is clean,

Makes for growth, makes it green,

A transfer of wealth, a solution.
I thought evapotranspiration was good. Without it many more places would be deserts.
https://lenbilen.com/2014/02/22/co2-the-life-giving-gas-not-carbon-pollution-a-limerick-and-explanation/

Robert W Turner
November 5, 2019 10:30 am

Almost all water runoff into streams happens during big precipitation events where there is such a glut of rain that flooding occurs and the vast majority of water simply flows out into the ocean. This runoff does not make its way into the soil and water table where it would help slow the return to drought conditions as this water slowly seeps out into streams from springs.

Increased vegetation decreases the rate of runoff and thus decreases the magnitude of floods and increases the amount that saturates into the ground. Vegetation also increases the likelihood of small precipitation events in general through the aerosol-precipitation feedback. It also shades the soil which prevents the sun from drying it out as fast.

It’s amazing how these “models” can predict the complete opposite of empirical observations yet the cult truly believes the results.

Reply to  Robert W Turner
November 5, 2019 2:06 pm

I suggest they speak to Allan Savory (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpTHi7O66pI) to see what greening an area can do.

It appears you can have green areas AND water runoff

Rory Forbes
November 5, 2019 10:31 am

The entire “climate change” meme consists of … “now that we’ve got your attention, look at this NEW ridiculous study we’ve come up with. It doesn’t matter that it is contradictory to several other known principles, climate science doesn’t require consistency.
I agree about the undercut. That wouldn’t even be legal in British Columbia …for two reasons, safety and it cuts into the tree rather than the stump.

November 5, 2019 10:32 am

But, warmer temperatures also means more evaporation from the oceans and more available water in the first place. So the claimed scenario would only be plausible if the only effect from CO2 was to increase agricultural productivity. although, even without any corresponding temperature increase, it’s still beneficial.

Perhaps this scenario is more plausible as demonstrating tangible harm from CO2 emissions? A heavier atmosphere from more CO2 will increase gravity, making everyone on Earth weight more and if the world doesn’t go on a diet. we will rapidly deplete our food supplies and everyone will go hungry.

November 5, 2019 10:33 am

Plants are bad, unimpeded erosion and catastrophic flooding must be good. And yes, studies based on actual observations must be ignored (suppressed) in favour of those based on imaginary models.

This ‘woke, progressive’ ‘scientific’ outlook makes entrail reading look good.

Matt Thompson
November 5, 2019 10:33 am

Nothing good ever comes from CO2. Too much rain. Not enough rain. Not enough bears. Too many bears. Not enough green. Too much green.

Reply to  Matt Thompson
November 5, 2019 1:42 pm

And all of it twice as fast as everywhere else!

Robert of Ottawa
Reply to  MarkH
November 5, 2019 8:00 pm

You must be a Canadian Mark 🙂

Jeff Alberts
Reply to  Matt Thompson
November 5, 2019 5:37 pm

The Carboniferous must have been a REALLY bad time.

amirlach
November 5, 2019 10:39 am

Kinda solves the Co2 caused sea level rise scam… err scare. I thought cutting down the Amazon forest would result in the land drying out? Which is it?

Paul S
November 5, 2019 10:46 am

It was my understanding that more CO2 made the plants more water efficient????

Kevin R.
November 5, 2019 10:48 am

So they can quit planting all those trees they keep planting in the name of fighting climate change.

KcTax
Reply to  Kevin R.
November 5, 2019 11:32 am

Kevin R.,
Probably not going to happen as that would interfere with Al Gore’s lucrative Carbon Offset (Credit?) indulgence scam so rich people can fly on their private jets and sail on their yachts without guilt.

brians356
November 5, 2019 10:53 am

When the imminent global cooling takes hold, the alarmists have “We’re all going to die of thirst unless we do something!” in their hip pockets. Kind of like switching from “Russia!” to “Ukraine!” im the blink of an eye.

LadyLifeGrows
November 5, 2019 10:54 am

Models, again. You can make those show anything.
The reality is that in higher CO2, plants can have their pores more closed, which reduces evapotranspiration and makes the plants more drought-tolerant.
This climate nonsense is extremely anti-science, and extremely anti-Life. But we’ve known that. How do we get them to wake up and stop causing so much destruction? By focusing on the Regenerative Agriculture part of the Green New Deal. It does not matter that the rest of GND is insane.
The young warriors need success and THIS part of their efforts will be very successful. Since it is plant and animal-based, they get informed about photosynthesis along the way, and can quit worrying about “greenhouse gases” without a lot of fuss.
The actual sin of “eating the fruit of knowledge of good and evil” is trying to make someone else wrong. This site and others are right about the greenhouse gas facts, and have worked hard to get others to admit they are wrong. The result is we have gotten almost nowhere except riots in France and Chile.
Climate activists are RIGHT about Regenerative agriculture and they can get very happy and excited about it. This approach is PROFITABLE. So let’s run with it.

ScienceABC123
November 5, 2019 10:56 am

So more plants will make the world a desert???

bluecat57
Reply to  ScienceABC123
November 5, 2019 2:35 pm

Exactly what I’ve always thought. Wasn’t there an article about deforestation here yesterday?

n.n
November 5, 2019 10:57 am

How many people are so green to believe that Green is good and green [vegetation] is bad? The Profits want to abort the baby and grant her life, too. Irreconcilable.

bluecat57
Reply to  n.n
November 5, 2019 2:36 pm

Welcome to Relativism.

ResourceGuy
November 5, 2019 10:58 am

This helps prove that the NRDC is running an AI program to rule the world from their office. They are using the Sierra Club and Green Peace as enforcers.

ResourceGuy
November 5, 2019 11:01 am

Does this make vegans co-conspirators? When did they know?

KcTaz
Reply to  ResourceGuy
November 5, 2019 11:35 am

ResourceGuy

+100!

Richard Saumarez
November 5, 2019 11:03 am

Since this is, by their own admission, a model study with considerable uncertainties between models I would think that this study can safely be ignored.

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