Forests in Certain Areas of the World Can Add to Global Warming (1)

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Trees absorb planet-heating carbon dioxide, so more of them around should help curb global warming, right?

The answer isn’t straightforward. Researchers have found that leafy canopies may have unintended consequences, especially when they cover places where surfaces do a good job at reflecting sunlight back into space — think snow, bright soils and grasslands.

Trees in these locations can lower the so-called albedo effect, or the reflectivity of the Earth, and possibly even outweigh the cooling benefits of the carbon storage they provide, according to ...