On the role of plant volatiles in anthropogenic global climate change

Abstract

Biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions from terrestrial ecosystems undergo rapid oxidation in the atmosphere that affects multiple warming and cooling climate pollutants. Since the preindustrial, BVOC-chemistry-climate interactions have been strongly influenced by anthropogenic changes in land cover, pollution emissions, and the physical climate state. Here, an Earth system model is applied to quantify the effects of BVOC emissions on the global radiation balance in the 1850s and 2000s including changes to tropospheric ozone, methane, and direct aerosol-radiation interactions. The net chemical forcing of global climate due to all known anthropogenic influences on BVOC emissions is -0.17 Wm-2(cooling) that offsets the +0.10 Wm-2(warming) due to anthropogenic VOC emissions from fossil fuel use and industry for this time period. BVOC emissions need to be included in assessments of anthropogenic radiative forcing.