Ching-Hung Shih

Montane cloud forests (MCFs), ecosystems critically dependent on persistent cloud immersion and high moisture availability, have been presumed vulnerable to regional warming and atmospheric drying. Yet their microclimatic resilience under regional climate variability remains poorly understood. Here we show that MCFs maintain remarkably stable near-surface relative humidity (RH), despite sustained regional warming, using a 42-year (1980–2021) high-resolution (2-km, hourly) climate dataset from Taiwan. These forests also exhibit substantially lower interannual RH variability than adjacent non-cloud-forested regions. This persistence arises from an interplay of mechanisms, including local and nonlocal water vapor supply under variable rainfall regimes, cloud-mediated temperature moderation, and nonlinear thermodynamic regulation. Together, these processes buffer MCFs against atmospheric drying. Our results complement prevailing assessments of MCF vulnerability to changing climate, by revealing their retention of a stable microclimate amid regional climate fluctuations. This study advances understanding of how mountain ecosystems regulate their microclimate and provides a mechanistic framework for evaluating microclimate persistence in cloud forests worldwide.

Cloud‐fog formation substantially reduces near‐surface solar radiation and modulates land‐atmosphere interactions, but quantifying such reduction is limited by sparse mountain observations. Using a 1‐km geostationary satellite‐retrieved product, we apply the Reduction Ratio of Solar Radiation (RR _SR ), an empirical normalized metric that quantifies near‐surface solar radiation deficits relative to a local maximum solar radiation baseline. Applying RR _SR over Taiwan reveals a strong seasonal contrast. Summer RR _SR exhibits a distinct land‐type gradient (montane cloud forests > other forests > non‐forests), peaking within the mid‐elevations (500–2,500 m a.s.l.). In winter, prevailing northeasterly flow overrides local land‐type influences. Strong northeasterly events enhance RR _SR > 1.5‐fold in windward lowlands (SR provides a practical diagnostic for ecohydrology and surface energy budgets, although its uncertainties are larger under cloudy or foggy conditions in complex terrain.

Soil moisture–precipitation (SM–P) coupling is a key component of land–atmosphere interactions, but its strength and sign remain highly uncertain in large-scale models. While high-resolution models that explicitly resolve convection offer a way to reduce these uncertainties, their impact on SM–P coupling is not yet fully understood. Here, we investigate global SM–P coupling across different spatial resolutions using the Nonhydrostatic Icosahedral Atmospheric Model (NICAM). We find that SM–P coupling strongly depends on model resolution. As resolution increases, precipitation becomes more localized, leading to a smaller rainy area and a more heterogeneous spatial structure of the coupling. These changes involve significant regional variations in both coupling strength and sign. At high resolution, coupling is strengthened in major land–atmosphere hotspots, driven by enhanced convection that produces higher precipitation and more active moisture exchange. Meanwhile, high-resolution simulations exhibit widespread sign reversals in SM–P coupling. These reversals are caused by the convection-driven redistribution of precipitation, where localized moisture convergence and divergence reshape the coupling relationships. Compared to FLUXNET and ERA5 data, increasing model resolution systematically reduces negative biases in SM–P coupling, bringing the simulation closer to observations. Our results show that high-resolution modeling helps reconcile simulations with observations and emphasize the importance of using high-resolution frameworks to represent land–atmosphere interactions accurately.

Vapor pressure deficit (VPD), a key indicator of atmospheric dryness, is strongly influenced by diurnal cycles of temperature ( T ) and relative humidity (RH). While these cycles are typically inversely locked in-phase, recent research has identified diurnal hysteresis, characterized by a time lag between T and RH; yet, its impact on VPD under changing climates remains poorly understood. In this study, we examine how diurnal T /RH hysteresis modulates VPD across different climates using observational data alongside high-resolution reanalysis and simulations. Here, we find that regions exhibiting strong diurnal T /RH hysteresis, especially in some waterside and montane regions, experience earlier daily VPD peaks. We also demonstrate that global warming weakens diurnal T /RH hysteresis, leading to amplified VPD increasing trends and greater ecosystem stress. These results highlight the need for improved representation of diurnal T /RH interactions in climate models to better predict atmospheric dryness and its impacts on land-atmosphere feedbacks, ecosystems, and regional water cycles.