scholarly journals Vegetation Cover Change and Its Attribution in China from 2001 to 2018

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 496
Author(s):  
Baohui Mu ◽  
Xiang Zhao ◽  
Donghai Wu ◽  
Xinyan Wang ◽  
Jiacheng Zhao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystem ◽  
Northern Region ◽  
Driving Factors ◽  
Shortwave Radiation ◽  
Vegetation Changes ◽  
Related Factors

It is confirmed that China has been greening over the last two decades. Such greening and its driving factors are therefore significant for understanding the relationship between vegetation and environments. However, studies on vegetation changes and attribution analyses at the national scale are limited in China after 2000. In this study, fractional vegetation cover (FVC) data from Global Land Surface Satellite (GLASS) was used to detect vegetation change trends from 2001 to 2018, and the effects of CO2, temperature, shortwave radiation, precipitation, and land cover change (LCC) on FVC changes were quantified using generalized linear models (GLM). The results showed that (1) FVC in China increased by 14% from 2001 to 2018 with a greening rate of approximately 0.0019/year (p < 0.01), which showed an apparent greening trend. (2) On the whole, CO2, climate-related factors, and LCC accounted for 88% of FVC changes in China, and the drivers explained 82%, 89%, 90%, and 89% of the FVC changes in the Qinghai–Tibet region, northwest region, northern region, and southern region, respectively. CO2 was the major driving factor for FVC changes, accounting for 31% of FVC changes in China, indicating that CO2 was an essential factor in vegetation growth research. (3) The statistical results of pixels with land cover changes showed that LCC explained 12% of FVC changes, LCC has played a relatively important role and this phenomenon may be related to the ecological restoration projects. This study enriches the study of vegetation changes and its driving factors, and quantitatively describes the response relationship between vegetation and its driving factors. The results have an important significance for adjusting terrestrial ecosystem services.

scholarly journals Spatial and Temporal Characteristics and Driving Forces of Vegetation Changes in the Huaihe River Basin from 2003 to 2018

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenzhen Liu ◽  
Hang Wang ◽  
Ning Li ◽  
Jun Zhu ◽  
Ziwu Pan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Land Surface Temperature ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Vegetation Changes ◽  
Huaihe River Basin ◽  
Huaihe River ◽  
Land Cover Types ◽  
The Huaihe River

In this study, MODIS normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), TRMM3B43 precipitation, and MOD11A2 land-surface temperature (LST) data were used as data sources in an analysis of temporal and spatial characteristics of vegetation changes and ecological environmental quality in the Huaihe River basin, China, from 2003 to 2018. The Mann–Kendall (MK) non-parametric test and the Theil–Sen slope test were combined for this analysis; then, when combined with the results of the MK mutation test and two introduced indexes, the kurtosis coefficient (KU) and skewness (SK) and correlations between NDVI, precipitation (TRMM), and land-surface temperature (LST) in different time scales were revealed. The results illustrate that the mean NDVI in the Huaihe River basin was 0.54. The annual NDVImax curve fluctuations for different land cover types were almost the same. The main reasons for the decrease in or disappearance of vegetation cover in the Huaihe River basin were the expansion of towns and impact of human activities. Furthermore, vegetation cover around water areas was obviously degraded and wetland protections need to be strengthened urgently. On the same time scale, change trends of NDVI, TRMM, and LST after abrupt changes became consistent within a short time period. Vegetation growth was favored when the KU and SK of TRMM had a close to normal distribution within one year. Monthly TRMM and LST can better reflect NDVI fluctuations compared with seasonal and annual scales. When the precipitation (TRMM) is less than 767 mm, the average annual NDVI of different land cover types is not ideal. Compared with other land cover types, dry land has stronger adaptability to changes in the LST when the LST is between 19 and 22.6 °C. These trends can serve as scientific reference for protecting and managing the ecological environment in the Huaihe River basin.

scholarly journals Representation of fire, land-use change and vegetation dynamics in the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator vn4.9 (JULES)

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chantelle Burton ◽  
Richard Betts ◽  
Manoel Cardoso ◽  
Ted R. Feldpausch ◽  
Anna Harper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Vegetation Dynamics ◽  
Fire Disturbance ◽  
Substantial Contribution ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Disturbance of vegetation is a critical component of land cover, but is generally poorly constrained in land surface and carbon cycle models. In particular, land-use change and fire can be treated as large-scale disturbances without full representation of their underlying complexities and interactions. Here we describe developments to the land surface model JULES (Joint UK Land Environment Simulator) to represent land-use change and fire as distinct processes which interact with simulated vegetation dynamics. We couple the fire model INFERNO (INteractive Fire and Emission algoRithm for Natural envirOnments) to dynamic vegetation within JULES and use the HYDE (History Database of the Global Environment) land cover dataset to analyse the impact of land-use change on the simulation of present day vegetation. We evaluate the inclusion of land use and fire disturbance against standard benchmarks. Using the Manhattan metric, results show improved simulation of vegetation cover across all observed datasets. Overall, disturbance improves the simulation of vegetation cover by 35 % compared to vegetation continuous field (VCF) observations from MODIS and 13 % compared to the Climate Change Initiative (CCI) from the ESA. Biases in grass extent are reduced from −66 % to 13 %. Total woody cover improves by 55 % compared to VCF and 20 % compared to CCI from a reduction in forest extent in the tropics, although simulated tree cover is now too sparse in some areas. Explicitly modelling fire and land use generally decreases tree and shrub cover and increases grasses. The results show that the disturbances provide important contributions to the realistic modelling of vegetation on a global scale, although in some areas fire and land use together result in too much disturbance. This work provides a substantial contribution towards representing the full complexity and interactions between land-use change and fire that could be used in Earth system models.

scholarly journals Climatic Impact of Vegetation Change in the Asian Tropical Region. Part I: Case of the Northern Hemisphere Summer

2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 410-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuo Mabuchi ◽  
Yasuo Sato ◽  
Hideji Kida
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Tropical Region ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Monsoon Circulation ◽  
Vegetation Changes ◽  
Control Simulation ◽  
Change Impact ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Impact Experiments

Abstract Several numerical simulations were performed, using a global climate model that includes a realistic land surface model, to investigate the impact of Asian tropical vegetation changes on the climate. The control simulation, under conditions of the actual vegetation, and three vegetation-change impact experiments were performed. The results of the impact experiments were compared with those of the control simulation. The horizontal resolution of the model used in these simulations was 1.875°, being finer than that of the models used in previous vegetation-change impact studies. As a result, it was determined that the effects of vegetation changes in the Asian tropical region had spatially different features. The morphological, physiological, and physical changes of the land surface vegetation in the Asian tropical region certainly induce statistically significant climate changes in these and the surrounding areas. That is, from the results of the bare soil and C4 grass experiments, the decrease in the roughness length, and from the results of the green-less experiment, the decrease of the latent heat flux, exert strong influences on the horizontal and convective circulations of the atmosphere. Consequently, the distribution of precipitation will undergo a change. Other energy and water balances at the land surface are also influenced by the vegetation changes, and the induced changes are generally statistically significant. The influences of vegetation changes in the Asian tropical region were more complicated than those in the Amazon. One reason for this was that the Asian tropical region is strongly influenced by the Asian monsoon circulation; another reason is that the land–sea distribution and the distribution of vegetation in the Asian tropical region are not as simple as in a tropical rain forest like the Amazon.

scholarly journals Ecosystem Feedbacks to Climate Change in California: Development, Testing, and Analysis Using a Coupled Regional Atmosphere and Land Surface Model (WRF3–CLM3.5)

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (15) ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. M. Subin ◽  
W. J. Riley ◽  
J. Jin ◽  
D. S. Christianson ◽  
M. S. Torn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Land Surface Model ◽  
Natural Vegetation ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Temperature Changes ◽  
Model Version

Abstract A regional atmosphere model [Weather Research and Forecasting model version 3 (WRF3)] and a land surface model [Community Land Model, version 3.5 (CLM3.5)] were coupled to study the interactions between the atmosphere and possible future California land-cover changes. The impact was evaluated on California’s climate of changes in natural vegetation under climate change and of intentional afforestation. The ability of WRF3 to simulate California’s climate was assessed by comparing simulations by WRF3–CLM3.5 and WRF3–Noah to observations from 1982 to 1991. Using WRF3–CLM3.5, the authors performed six 13-yr experiments using historical and future large-scale climate boundary conditions from the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Climate Model version 2.1 (GFDL CM2.1). The land-cover scenarios included historical and future natural vegetation from the Mapped Atmosphere-Plant-Soil System-Century 1 (MC1) dynamic vegetation model, in addition to a future 8-million-ha California afforestation scenario. Natural vegetation changes alone caused summer daily-mean 2-m air temperature changes of −0.7° to +1°C in regions without persistent snow cover, depending on the location and the type of vegetation change. Vegetation temperature changes were much larger than the 2-m air temperature changes because of the finescale spatial heterogeneity of the imposed vegetation change. Up to 30% of the magnitude of the summer daily-mean 2-m air temperature increase and 70% of the magnitude of the 1600 local time (LT) vegetation temperature increase projected under future climate change were attributable to the climate-driven shift in land cover. The authors projected that afforestation could cause local 0.2°–1.2°C reductions in summer daily-mean 2-m air temperature and 2.0°–3.7°C reductions in 1600 LT vegetation temperature for snow-free regions, primarily because of increased evapotranspiration. Because some of these temperature changes are of comparable magnitude to those projected under climate change this century, projections of climate and vegetation change in this region need to consider these climate–vegetation interactions.

scholarly journals Understanding the mechanism of land-cover related climate change in the low latitudes

MAUSAM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-312
Author(s):  
HEIKO PAETH
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Rainfall Amount ◽  
Congo Basin ◽  
Convective Precipitation ◽  
Land Cover Changes ◽  
Low Latitudes

Rainfall variability in the low latitudes in general and over tropical and sub-tropical Africa in particular, is largely affected by land surface characteristics like, vegetation cover, albedo and soil moisture. Understanding the local and dynamical effects of land-cover changes is crucial to future climate prediction, given ongoing population growth and increasing agricultural needs in Africa. Here, a set of sensitivity studies with a synoptic-scale regional climate model is presented, prescribing idealized scenarios of reduced vegetation cover over Africa. Beside the vegetation ratio itself, the leaf area index, forest ratio, surface albedo and roughness length are changed as well, in order to obtain a consistent scenario of land surface degradation. In addition, a second set of experiments is realized with altered soil parameters as expected to be coming alongwith a reduction in vegetation cover.   Seasonal rainfall amount decreases substantially when the present-day vegetation continuously disappears. The strongest changes are found over the Congo Basin and subsaharan West Africa, where the summer monsoon precipitation diminishes by up to 2000 mm and 600 mm, respectively. The rainfall response to vegetation changes is non-linear and statistically significant over large parts of subsaharan Africa. Convective precipitation is more sensitive than large-scale precipitation.   The most prominent effect of land degradation is a decrease (increase) of latent (sensible) heat fluxes. As a consequence, the large-scale thermal gradients, as a key factor in the monsoonal flow over Africa, are modified leading to a southward shift of the intertropical convergence zone and enhanced moisture advection over the southernmost part of West Africa and the central Congo Basin. The mid-tropospheric jet and wave dynamics are barely affected by land-cover changes. Although the large-scale dynamical response is favourable to increasing rainfall amount, the moisture budget is predominantly governed by reduced evapotranspiration, overcompensating the positive dynamical effect and inducing a weakening of the regional-scale water recycling. The related changes in the soil properties may additionally contribute to a reduction in rainfall amount, albeit of lower amplitude.

scholarly journals Biophysics and vegetation cover change: a process-based evaluation framework for confronting land surface models with satellite observations

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Duveiller ◽  
Giovanni Forzieri ◽  
Eddy Robertson ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Goran Georgievski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Land Cover Change ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Land Surface Models ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Surface Models

Abstract. Land use and land cover change (LULCC) alter the biophysical properties of the Earth's surface. The associated changes in vegetation cover can perturb the local surface energy balance, which in turn can affect the local climate. The sign and magnitude of this change in climate depends on the specific vegetation transition, its timing and location, as well as on the background climate. Land surface models (LSMs) can be used to simulate such land-climate interactions and study their impact in past and future climates, but their capacity to model biophysical effects accurately across the globe remain unclear due to the complexity of the phenomena. Here we present a framework to evaluate the performance of such models with respect to a dedicated dataset derived from satellite remote sensing observations. Idealized simulations from four LSMs (JULES, ORCHIDEE, JSBACH and CLM) are combined with satellite observations to analyse the changes in radiative and turbulent fluxes caused by 15 specific vegetation cover transitions across geographic, seasonal and climatic gradients. The seasonal variation in net radiation associated with land cover change is the process that models capture best, whereas LSMs perform poorly when simulating spatial and climatic gradients of variation in latent, sensible and ground heat fluxes induced by land cover transitions. We expect that this analysis will help identify model limitations and prioritize efforts in model development as well as to inform where consensus between model and observations is already met, ultimately helping to improve the robustness and consistency of model simulations to better inform land-based mitigation and adaptation policies. The dataset is available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1182145.

scholarly journals Spatiotemporal Impacts of Urban Land Use/Land Cover Changes on Land Surface Temperature: A Comparative Study of Damascus and Aleppo (Syria)

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 1037
Author(s):  
Mohamed Ali Mohamed
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Land Surface Temperature ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Land Use Land Cover ◽  
Lulc Changes ◽  
Increasing Trend ◽  
The Mean

Monitoring the impact of changes in land use/land cover (LULC) and land surface temperature (LST) is of great importance in environmental and urban studies. In this context, this study aimed to analyze the dynamics of LULC and its impact on the spatiotemporal variation of the LST in the two largest urban cities in Syria, Damascus, and Aleppo. To achieve this, LULC changes, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and LST were calculated from multi-temporal Landsat data for the period 2010 to 2018. The study revealed significant changes in LULC, which were represented by a decrease in agricultural land and green areas and an increase in bare areas in both cities. In addition, built-up areas decreased in Aleppo and increased in Damascus during the study period. The temporal and spatial variation of the LST and its distribution pattern was closely related to the effect of changes in LULC as well as to land use conditions in each city. This effect was greater in Aleppo than in Damascus, where Aleppo recorded a higher increase in the mean LST, by about 2 °C, than in Damascus, where it was associated with greater degradation and loss of vegetation cover. In general, there was an increasing trend in the minimum and maximum LST as well as an increasing trend in the mean LST in both cities. The negative linear relationship between LST and NDVI confirms that vegetation cover can help reduce LST in both cities. This study can draw the attention of relevant departments to pay more attention to mitigating the negative impact of LULC changes in order to limit the increase in LST.

scholarly journals Biophysics and vegetation cover change: a process-based evaluation framework for confronting land surface models with satellite observations

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 1265-1279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Duveiller ◽  
Giovanni Forzieri ◽  
Eddy Robertson ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Goran Georgievski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Land Cover Change ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Land Surface Models ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Surface Models

Abstract. Land use and land cover change (LULCC) alter the biophysical properties of the Earth's surface. The associated changes in vegetation cover can perturb the local surface energy balance, which in turn can affect the local climate. The sign and magnitude of this change in climate depends on the specific vegetation transition, its timing and its location, as well as on the background climate. Land surface models (LSMs) can be used to simulate such land–climate interactions and study their impact in past and future climates, but their capacity to model biophysical effects accurately across the globe remain unclear due to the complexity of the phenomena. Here we present a framework to evaluate the performance of such models with respect to a dedicated dataset derived from satellite remote sensing observations. Idealized simulations from four LSMs (JULES, ORCHIDEE, JSBACH and CLM) are combined with satellite observations to analyse the changes in radiative and turbulent fluxes caused by 15 specific vegetation cover transitions across geographic, seasonal and climatic gradients. The seasonal variation in net radiation associated with land cover change is the process that models capture best, whereas LSMs perform poorly when simulating spatial and climatic gradients of variation in latent, sensible and ground heat fluxes induced by land cover transitions. We expect that this analysis will help identify model limitations and prioritize efforts in model development as well as inform where consensus between model and observations is already met, ultimately helping to improve the robustness and consistency of model simulations to better inform land-based mitigation and adaptation policies. The dataset consisting of both harmonized model simulation and remote sensing estimations is available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1182145.

TERRESTRIAL VEGETATION COVER ACTIVITY AS A PROBLEM OF FLUCTUATING SURFACES

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (28n29) ◽  
pp. 5444-5452 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROSA COPPOLA ◽  
VINCENZO CUOMO ◽  
MARIAGRAZIA D'EMILIO ◽  
MARIA LANFREDI ◽  
MARGHERITA LIBERTI ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Characteristic Time ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Terrestrial Vegetation ◽  
Radiative Balance ◽  
Persistence Properties

The role of vegetation cover within the processes that link land and atmosphere is of stringent interest for the correct modeling of Climate dynamics. Temporal and spatial correlation of the terrestrial coverage varies according to Climate and acts as a major forcing on it through changes in surface energy and water balance as well as in the carbon cycle. Recent studies have enhanced the actual and potential impact of this forcing on the radiative balance thus evidencing effects that are at least comparable to that due to all the anthropogenic greenhouse gases together. At now, observational studies on land cover dynamics are strongly in progress thanks to satellite data. The availability of continuous observations of the land surface can allow us to understand the correlation structure, both in time and in space, that characterizes the land cover activity. Satellites provide time series of photosynthetic activity measures that can be regarded as a succession of observations of a two-dimensional scalar field. We exploited the paradigm of fluctuating surfaces as a mechanic analogue for our problem. To capture vegetation cover characteristic time-scales, persistence properties were evaluated by analysing annual maps of NDVI-AVHRR time series and persistence probability was estimated by using the sing-time distribution methodology. The analysis performed for ecoregions of Italian and Greek territories evidenced signatures of short range persistence with characteristic time scales that depend on land cover, climate, and anthropic activities. Our results confirm that such an approach can provide a useful parameterisation for including vegetation into climate models as a dynamical component.

scholarly journals Analysis on vegetation cover changes and the driving factors in the mid-lower reaches of Hanjiang River Basin between 2001 and 2015

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 675-689
Author(s):  
Yunjun Zhan ◽  
Jiemeng Fan ◽  
Tingting Meng ◽  
Zhongwu Li ◽  
Yan Yan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Driving Factors ◽  
Jianghan Plain ◽  
Hanjiang River ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Effect

Abstract The mid-lower reaches of the Hanjiang River Basin, located in the core of economic development in Hubei Province, is an integral part of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. In recent years, the watershed ecosystem has become more sensitive to climate changes and human activities, thus affecting the regional vegetation cover. To maintain a stable watershed ecosystem, it is critical to analyze and evaluate the vegetation change and its response to temperature, precipitation, and human activities in this region. This study, based on the trend analysis, partial correlation analysis, and residual analysis, evaluated the change characteristics of vegetation cover as well as the corresponding driving factors in the basin from 2001 to 2015. The results showed that (1) the overall spatial pattern of vegetation cover in the study area was “high in the west and north, lower on both sides of Hanjiang River, and lowest in the center and southeast,” and the pattern changed parabolically with the increasing elevation. (2) Over the 15 years, vegetation cover in the basin showed an increasing trend, and the increased and decreased areas were 90.72 and 9.23%, respectively. (3) The response of vegetation cover to climatic factors varies greatly depending on the increasing elevation. That is, the lag effect under the impact of temperature disappeared gradually, while it became more evident under the impact of precipitation. (4) On the whole, human activities had a positive effect on the regional vegetation cover. The negative effect in the areas around the Nanyang Basin and the positive effect in most parts of the Jianghan Plain were gradually decreased.

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