Title of article :
Seasonal temperature responses to land-use change in the western United States
Author/Authors :
Lara M. Kueppers، نويسنده , , Mark A. Snyder، نويسنده , , Lisa C. Sloan، نويسنده , , Dan Cayan، نويسنده , , Jiming Jin، نويسنده , , Hideki Kanamaru، نويسنده , , Masao Kanamitsu، نويسنده , , Norman L. Miller، نويسنده , , Mary Tyree، نويسنده , , Hui Du، نويسنده , , Bryan Weare، نويسنده ,
Issue Information :
روزنامه با شماره پیاپی سال 2008
Pages :
15
From page :
250
To page :
264
Abstract :
In the western United States, more than 79 000 km2 has been converted to irrigated agriculture and urban areas. These changes have the potential to alter surface temperature by modifying the energy budget at the land–atmosphere interface. This study reports the seasonally varying temperature responses of four regional climate models (RCMs) – RSM, RegCM3, MM5-CLM3, and DRCM – to conversion of potential natural vegetation to modern land-cover and land-use over a 1-year period. Three of the RCMs supplemented soil moisture, producing large decreases in the August mean (− 1.4 to − 3.1 °C) and maximum (− 2.9 to − 6.1 °C) 2-m air temperatures where natural vegetation was converted to irrigated agriculture. Conversion to irrigated agriculture also resulted in large increases in relative humidity (9% to 36% absolute change). Modeled changes in the August minimum 2-m air temperature were not as pronounced or consistent across the models. Converting natural vegetation to urban land-cover produced less pronounced temperature effects in all models, with the magnitude of the effect dependent upon the preexisting vegetation type and urban parameterizations. Overall, the RCM results indicate that the temperature impacts of land-use change are most pronounced during the summer months, when surface heating is strongest and differences in surface soil moisture between irrigated land and natural vegetation are largest.
Keywords :
Land-use change , regional climate model (RCM) , surface radiation budget , urban land-cover , Irrigated agriculture
Journal title :
Global and Planetary Change
Serial Year :
2008
Journal title :
Global and Planetary Change
Record number :
705077
Link To Document :
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