Modeling and analysis of the potential impacts on regional climate due to vegetation degradation over arid and semi-arid regions of China

Liang Chen (), Zhuguo Ma and Tianbao Zhao
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Liang Chen: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhuguo Ma: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Tianbao Zhao: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Climatic Change, 2017, vol. 144, issue 3, No 7, 473 pages

Abstract: Abstract The regional climate effects of vegetation change in arid and semi-arid regions of China, which has experienced serious grassland degradation, are investigated in this study using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) regional climate model. Two long-term simulation experiments (from January 1, 1980 to March 1, 2010), one with the land cover derived from the original United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) data (denoted as CTL) and the other (denoted as SEN) with a modification of the former one by vegetation degradation in arid and semi-arid regions of China, are undertaken to investigate the influence of land cover change on regional climate over arid and semi-arid regions of China. The possible mechanisms of how land cover change affects the regional climate in arid and semi-arid regions of China are also examined. The simulation results indicate that when compared with the observation datasets, the WRF model simulates the spatial pattern of observed temperature and precipitation quite well. After vegetation degradation over the arid and semi-arid regions of China, the net radiation and evaporation are reduced mainly within the degraded areas in summer, consistent with the reduction in precipitation and the increase in 2-m air temperature (T2 m).

Keywords: Vegetation degradation; Regional climate; Arid and semi-arid; WRF (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10584-016-1847-2

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