## [The Biophysical Climate Mitigation Potential of Boreal Peatlands During the Growing Season](/resource/biophysical-climate-mitigation-potential-boreal-peatlands-during-growing-season) Organization [McMaster University](/organization/mcmaster-university) [Dalhousie University](/organization/dalhousie-university) [University of Helsinki](/organization/university-helsinki) [Natural Resources Institute Finland](/organization/natural-resources-institute-finland) [Finnish Meteorological Institute](/organization/finnish-meteorological-institute) [Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)](/organization/environment-and-climate-change-canada-eccc) [Global Institute for Water Security](/organization/global-institute-water-security) [University of British Columbia (UBC)](/organization/university-british-columbia-ubc) [Michigan State University](/organization/michigan-state-university) [Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences](/organization/swedish-university-agricultural-sciences) [University of Wisconsin-Madison](/organization/university-wisconsin-madison) [Worcester State University](/organization/worcester-state-university) [University of Alaska Fairbanks](/organization/university-alaska-fairbanks) [University of Lethbridge (UofL)](/organization/university-lethbridge-uofl) [University of Copenhagen](/organization/university-copenhagen) [University of Quebec](/organization/university-quebec) [McGill University](/organization/mcgill-university) [Lund University](/organization/lund-university) [Carleton University](/organization/carleton-university) [Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences National Agriculture and Food Research Organization](/organization/institute-agro-environmental-sciences-national-agriculture-and-food-research) [Laval University](/organization/laval-university) [Shinshu University](/organization/shinshu-university) [Russian Academy of Science](/organization/russian-academy-science) [University of Hamburg](/organization/university-hamburg) [Yugra State University](/organization/yugra-state-university) [Wilfrid Laurier University](/organization/wilfrid-laurier-university) [Nagoya University](/organization/nagoya-university) [University of Waterloo](/organization/university-waterloo) [University of Montreal](/organization/university-montreal) [University of Eastern Finland](/organization/university-eastern-finland) [Osaka Prefecture University](/organization/osaka-prefecture-university) [University of Greifswald](/organization/university-greifswald) [University of Alberta (UofA)](/organization/university-alberta-uofa) Resource Type [Peer reviewed article](/taxonomy/term/37) Author(s) Manuel Helbig Mike Waddington Pavel Alekseychik Brian Amiro Mika Aurela Alan Barr Andrew Black Sean Carey Jiquan Chen Jinshu Chi Ankur Desai Allison Dunn Eugenie Euskirchen Lawrence Flanagan Thomas Friborg Michelle Garneau Achim Grelle Silvie Harder Michal Heliasz Elyn Humphreys Hiroki Iwata Pierre-Erik Isabelle Rachhpal Jassal Mika Korkiakoski Juliya Kurbatova Lars Kutzbach Elena Lapshina Anders Lindroth Mikaell Lofvenius Annalea Lohila Ivan Mammarella Philip Marsh Paul Moore Trofim Maximov Daniel Nadeau Erin Nicholls Mats Nilsson Takeshi Ohta Matthias Peichl Richard Petrone Anatoly Prokushkin William Quinton Nigel Roulet Benjamin Runkle Oliver Sonnentag Ian Strachan Pierre Taillardat Eeva‐Stiina Tuittila Juha-Pekka Tuovinen Jessica Turner Masahito Ueyama Andrej Varlagin Timo Vesala Martin Wilmking Vyacheslav Zyrianov Hiroki Ikawa Original Authors Manuel Helbig Mike Waddington Pavel Alekseychik Brian Amiro Mika Aurela Alan Barr Andrew Black Sean Carey Jiquan Chen Jinshu Chi Ankur Desai Allison Dunn Eugenie Euskirchen Lawrence Flanagan Thomas Friborg Michelle Garneau Achim Grelle Silvie Harder Michal Heliasz Elyn Humphreys Hiroki Ikawa Pierre-Erik Isabelle Hiroki Iwata Rachhpal Jassal Mika Korkiakoski Juliya Kurbatova Lars Kutzbach Elena Lapshina Anders Lindroth Mikaell Lofvenius Annalea Lohila Ivan Mammarella Philip Marsh Paul Moore Trofim Maximov Daniel Nadeau Erin Nicholls Mats Nilsson Takeshi Ohta Matthias Peichl Richard Petrone Anatoly Prokushkin William Quinton Nigel Roulet Benjamin Runkle Oliver Sonnentag Ian Strachan Pierre Taillardat Eeva-Stiina Tuittula Juha-Pekka Tuovinen Jessica Turner Masahito Ueyama Andrej Varlagin Timo Vesala Martin Wilmking Vyacheslav Zyrianov Resource Date: October 2020 Peatlands and forests cover large areas of the boreal biome and are critical for global climate regulation. They also regulate regional climate through heat and water vapour exchange with the atmosphere. Understanding how land-atmosphere interactions in peatlands differ from forests may therefore be crucial for modelling boreal climate system dynamics and for assessing climate benefits of peatland conservation and restoration. To assess the biophysical impacts of peatlands and forests on peak growing season air temperature and humidity, we analysed surface energy fluxes and albedo from 35 peatlands and 37 evergreen needleleaf forests—the dominant boreal forest type—and simulated air temperature and vapour pressure deficit (VPD) over hypothetical homogeneous peatland and forest landscapes. We ran an evapotranspiration model using land surface parameters derived from energy flux observations and coupled an analytical solution for the surface energy balance to an atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) model. We found that peatlands, compared to forests, are characterized by higher growing season albedo, lower aerodynamic conductance, and higher surface conductance for an equivalent VPD. This combination of peatland surface properties results in a ∼20% decrease in afternoon ABL height, a cooling (from 1.7 to 2.5 ◦C) in afternoon air temperatures, and a decrease in afternoon VPD (from 0.4 to 0.7 kPa) for peatland landscapes compared to forest landscapes. These biophysical climate impacts of peatlands are most pronounced at lower latitudes (∼45◦N) and decrease toward the northern limit of the boreal biome (∼70◦N). Thus, boreal peatlands have the potential to mitigate the effect of regional climate warming during the growing season. The biophysical climate mitigation potential of peatlands needs to be accounted for when projecting the future climate of the boreal biome, when assessing the climate benefits of conserving pristine boreal peatlands, and when restoring peatlands that have experienced peatland drainage and mining.