Effects of Cropland Expansion on Temperature Extremes in Western India from 1982 to 2015

Jinxiu Liu, Weihao Shen and Yaqian He
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Jinxiu Liu: School of Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
Weihao Shen: School of Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
Yaqian He: Department of Geography, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AR 72035, USA

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 5, 1-17

Abstract: India has experienced extensive land cover and land use change (LCLUC). However, there is still limited empirical research regarding the impact of LCLUC on climate extremes in India. Here, we applied statistical methods to assess how cropland expansion has influenced temperature extremes in India from 1982 to 2015 using a new land cover and land use dataset and ECMWF Reanalysis V5 (ERA5) climate data. Our results show that during the last 34 years, croplands in western India increased by ~33.7 percentage points. This cropland expansion shows a significantly negative impact on the maxima of daily maximum temperature (TXx), while its impacts on the maxima of daily minimum temperature and the minima of daily maximum and minimum temperature are limited. It is estimated that if cropland expansion had not taken place in western India over the 1982 to 2015 period, TXx would likely have increased by 0.74 (±0.64) °C. The negative impact of croplands on reducing the TXx extreme is likely due to evaporative cooling from intensified evapotranspiration associated with croplands, resulting in increased latent heat flux and decreased sensible heat flux. This study underscores the important influences of cropland expansion on temperature extremes and can be applicable to other geographic regions experiencing LCLUC.

Keywords: cropland expansion; climate extremes; western Indian; land cover and land use change; GLASS-GLC; maxima of daily maximum temperature (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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