scholarly journals Variations of Near Surface Energy Balance Caused by Land Cover Changes in the Semiarid Grassland Area of China

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qun’ou Jiang ◽  
Chengcai Tang ◽  
Enjun Ma ◽  
Yongwei Yuan ◽  
Wei Zhang

This study applies the Dynamics of Land System (DLS) model to simulating the land cover under the designed scenarios and then analyzes the effects of land cover conversion on energy flux in the semiarid grassland area of China with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The results indicate that the grassland will show a steadily upgrowing trend under the coordinated environmental sustainability (CES) scenario. Compared to the CES scenario, the rate of increase in grassland cover is lower, while the rate of increase in urban land cover will be higher under the rapid economic growth (REG) scenario. Although the conversion from cropland to grassland will reduce the energy flux, the expansion of urban area and decreasing of forestry area will bring about more energy flux. As a whole, the energy flux of near surface will obviously not change under the CES scenario, and the climate therefore will not be possible to be influenced greatly by land cover change. The energy flux under the REG scenario is higher than that under the CES scenario. Those research conclusions can offer valuable information for the land use planning and climate change adaptation in the semiarid grassland area of China.

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 443
Author(s):  
Evidence Chinedu Enoguanbhor ◽  
Florian Gollnow ◽  
Blake Byron Walker ◽  
Jonas Ostergaard Nielsen ◽  
Tobia Lakes

Land use planning as strategic instruments to guide urban dynamics faces particular challenges in the Global South, including Sub-Saharan Africa, where urgent interventions are required to improve urban and environmental sustainability. This study investigated and identified key challenges of land use planning and its environmental assessments to improve the urban and environmental sustainability of city-regions. In doing so, we combined expert interviews and questionnaires with spatial analyses of urban and regional land use plans, as well as current and future urban land cover maps derived from Geographic Information Systems and remote sensing. By overlaying and contrasting land use plans and land cover maps, we investigated spatial inconsistencies between urban and regional plans and the associated urban land dynamics and used expert surveys to identify the causes of such inconsistencies. We furthermore identified and interrogated key challenges facing land use planning, including its environmental assessment procedures, and explored means for overcoming these barriers to rapid, yet environmentally sound urban growth. The results illuminated multiple inconsistencies (e.g., spatial conflicts) between urban and regional plans, most prominently stemming from conflicts in administrative boundaries and a lack of interdepartmental coordination. Key findings identified a lack of Strategic Environmental Assessment and inadequate implementation of land use plans caused by e.g., insufficient funding, lack of political will, political interference, corruption as challenges facing land use planning strategies for urban and environmental sustainability. The baseline information provided in this study is crucial to improve strategic planning and urban/environmental sustainability of city-regions in Sub-Saharan Africa and across the Global South, where land use planning faces similar challenges to address haphazard urban expansion patterns.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evidence Enoguanbhor ◽  
Florian Gollnow ◽  
Jonas Nielsen ◽  
Tobia Lakes ◽  
Blake Walker

Rapid urban expansion is a significant contributor to land cover change and poses a challenge to environmental sustainability, particularly in less developed countries. Insufficient data about urban expansion hinders effective land use planning. Therefore, a high need to collect, process, and disseminate land cover data exists. This study focuses on urban land cover change detection using Geographic Information Systems and remote sensing methods to produce baseline information in support for land use planning. We applied a supervised classification of land cover of LANDSAT data from 1987, 2002, and 2017. We mapped land cover transitions from 1987 to 2017 and computed the net land cover change during this time. Finally, we analyzed the mismatches between the past and current urban land cover and land use plans and quantified the non-urban development area lost to urban/built-up. Our results indicated an increase in urban/built-up and bare land cover types, while vegetation land cover decreased. We observed mismatches between past/current land cover and the existing land use plan. By providing detailed insights into mismatches between the regional land use plan and unregulated urban expansion, this study provides important information for a critical debate on the role and effectiveness of land use planning for environmental sustainability and sustainable urban development, particularly in less developed countries.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hajnalka Breuer ◽  
Zsuzsanna Zempléni ◽  
Ákos Varga

<p>Land use information is crucial in weather modelling as it determines the energy partitioning of the land surface. Based on the partitioning heating of near surface air and moisture supply of the planetary boundary layer is determined. These processes affect the general calculation of temperature, but it also has substantial effect on precipitation formation, especially on convective precipitation.</p><p>In this study the CORINE 44 categories are integrated into the WRF model. Usually the 44 land cover types are recategorized into a standard USGS or MODIS land use types. Here we present a dataset and application with the complete integration of the 44 types.</p><p>One-year runs are created with the CORINE land cover compared to the standard USGS dataset. Along with the new land cover types vegetation parameters had be defined as well. Four runs refer to a USGS-reference, CORINE2USGS converted, CORINE-USGS parameter, CORINE-newparameters where the effect of land cover and parameter change is analyzed. The modelled area covers the whole European region with 50 km resolution using the WRF 4.2 model. Regionally, on a monthly average 5-30% difference in precipitation and around 1 °C differences occur.</p><p>The research was supported by the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office, Grant No. FK132014. Hajnalka Breuer's work was additionally financed by the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.</p>


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhihui Li ◽  
Xiangzheng Deng ◽  
Qingling Shi ◽  
Xinli Ke ◽  
Yingcheng Liu

Boreal deforestation plays an important role in affecting regional and global climate. In this study, the regional temperature variation induced by future boreal deforestation in European Russia boreal forest region was simulated based on future land cover change and the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. This study firstly tested and validated the simulation results of the WRF model. Then the land cover datasets in different years (2000 as baseline year, 2010, and 2100) was used in the WRF model to explore the impacts of boreal deforestation on the near-surface temperature. The results indicated that the WRF model has good ability to simulate the temperature change in European Russia. The land cover change in European Russia boreal forest region, which will be characterized by the conversion from boreal forests to croplands (boreal deforestation) in the future 100 years, will lead to significant change of the near-surface temperature. The regional annual temperature will decrease by 0.58°C in the future 100 years, resulting in cooling effects to some extent and making the near-surface temperature decrease in most seasons except the spring.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Yu ◽  
Xinsheng Wang ◽  
Zhe Yan ◽  
Haiming Yan ◽  
Qunou Jiang

The land-use and land-cover change (LUCC) is the synthetic result of natural processes and human activities; it largely depends on the surface vegetation conditions, and the mutual conversion among land cover types can accelerate or alleviate the regional and global climate changes. Aiming at analyzing the regional climatic effects of the conversion from grassland to forestland, especially in the long term perspective, we carried out the comparison simulation using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model in Fujian province, results indicated that this conversion had a significant influence on the regional climate; the annual average temperature decreased by 0.11°C and the annual average precipitation increased by 46 mm after 11.2% of the grassland was converted into the forestland in the study area from 2000 to 2008. In the future (form 2010 to 2050), the conversion from grassland to forestland is significant under two representative concentration pathways (RCPs) (RCP6 and RCP8.5); the spatial pattern of this conversion under the two scenarios is simulated by dynamic of land system (DLS); then, the regional climate effects of the conversion are simulated using WRF model.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruijie Qu ◽  
Xiaolin Cui ◽  
Haiming Yan ◽  
Enjun Ma ◽  
Jinyan Zhan

This study first tested and verified the ability of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to simulate the near-surface temperature in the North China Plain. Then the static land cover data in the WRF were replaced, and thereafter the modified WRF model was used to explore the impacts of land cover change on the near-surface temperature in the North China Plain in year 1992 and year 2005. The results indicated that the land cover change in the North China Plain, which was characterized by the regional urbanization, had led to significant changes in the near-surface temperature, increasing the regional near-surface temperature by 0.03°C/year on average. The spatial pattern of the climate change basically corresponded to that of the land cover change; for example, the temperature increased most significantly in the regions mainly consisting of cities and built-up area. Besides, there were some variations in the degree and range of influence of the land cover change on the temperature among seasons. The result can provide important theoretical support for the adaptation to climate change, scientific land cover change management, and land use planning.


Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 312
Author(s):  
Barbara Wiatkowska ◽  
Janusz Słodczyk ◽  
Aleksandra Stokowska

Urban expansion is a dynamic and complex phenomenon, often involving adverse changes in land use and land cover (LULC). This paper uses satellite imagery from Landsat-5 TM, Landsat-8 OLI, Sentinel-2 MSI, and GIS technology to analyse LULC changes in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020. The research was carried out in Opole, the capital of the Opole Agglomeration (south-western Poland). Maps produced from supervised spectral classification of remote sensing data revealed that in 20 years, built-up areas have increased about 40%, mainly at the expense of agricultural land. Detection of changes in the spatial pattern of LULC showed that the highest average rate of increase in built-up areas occurred in the zone 3–6 km (11.7%) and above 6 km (10.4%) from the centre of Opole. The analysis of the increase of built-up land in relation to the decreasing population (SDG 11.3.1) has confirmed the ongoing process of demographic suburbanisation. The paper shows that satellite imagery and GIS can be a valuable tool for local authorities and planners to monitor the scale of urbanisation processes for the purpose of adapting space management procedures to the changing environment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 664
Author(s):  
Özlem Altınkaya Genel ◽  
ChengHe Guan

This study investigated the urban growth dynamics of urban regions. The study area was the Marmara Region, one of the most densely populated and ecologically diverse areas in Turkey. Using CORINE land cover data for 2006, 2012, and 2018, the study utilized multiple correspondence analyses and cluster analyses, to analyze land cover changes. The resulting maps, visualized in GIS, revealed the rapid urban transformation of the regional structure, formerly comprised of four distinct areas, into a more complex structure, in which densification and sprawl occur simultaneously. Our findings demonstrated a dissonance between the spatial dynamics of the Marmara Region during the study period, and the capacity and scope of the simultaneously initiated regional policies and mega-projects. This uncoordinated approach has endangered the region’s sustainable development. The paper, therefore, discusses the importance of land use planning and transboundary collaboration for sustainable regional development. Beyond the local case, the results contribute to critical theories in regional planning by linking theory and practice.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liu Shouying

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the structure and changes of China’s land system. To achieve this aim, the paper is divided into four parts. The first part gives a brief introduction to the structural characteristics of the Chinese land institutional arrangements; the second part analyzes the reform process of the land system in the past 40 years and its path of change; the third part engages the discussion about the historic contribution made by the land institutional change to rapid economic growth and structural changes; and the final part is conclusion and some policy implications. Design/methodology/approach After 40 years of reforms and opening up, China has not only created a growth miracle unparalleled for any major country in human history, but also transformed itself from a rural to an urban society. Behind this great transformation is a systemic reform in land institutions. Rural land institutions went from collectively owned to household responsibility system, thereby protecting farmers’ land rights. This process resulted in long-term sustainable growth in China’s agriculture, a massive rural-urban migration and a historical agricultural transformation. The conversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural uses and the introduction of market mechanisms made land a policy tool in driving high economic growth, industrialization and urbanization. Findings Research shows that the role of land and its relationship with the economy will inevitably change as China’s economy enters a new stage of medium-to-high speed growth. With economic restructuring, low-cost industrial land will be less effective. Urbanization is also shifting from rapid expansion to endogenous growth so that returns on land capitalization will decrease and risks will increase. Therefore, China must abandon land-dependent growth model through deepening land reforms and adapt a new pattern of economic development. Originality/value This paper gives a brief introduction to the structural characteristics of the Chinese land institutional arrangements, analyzes the reform process of the land system in the past 40 years and its path of change, and evaluates the historic contribution made by the land institutional change to rapid economic growth and structural changes.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document