A Probe into Greenhouse Effect During Han Dynasty: Oriented by the Consumption of Firewood and Charcoal from Forest

Latest research on the greenhouse effect during Han Dynasty in journal Nature revealed that it can be quantitatively inferred and verified in a consumption perspective of firewood and charcoal from social forests. During Han Dynasty, as conventional pressures faced in forest resources, multiple fields such as ordinary people, people in palace and offices, metallurgical industry, ceramics and salt industry, tombs system and charcoal industry consumed the firewood and charcoal. Based on the current research achievements and relevant archaeological data as well as quantitatively estimating the possible scale of conventional consumption, we not only verified the historic records about the shortages of forest resources in some regions, but also more completely understood the climate changes from warm to cold and the frequent natural disasters in the transient period between West Han Dynasty and East Han Dynasty.