Land use/land cover changes and climate: modeling analysis and observational evidence

Authors

Roger A. Pielke Sr., University of Colorado at BoulderFollow
Andy Pitman, University of New South Wales
Dev Niyogi, PurdueFollow
Rezaul Mahmood, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Clive McAlpine, University of QueenslandFollow
Faisal Hossain, Tennessee Technological UniversityFollow
Kees Klein Goldewijk, Netherlands Environmental Assessment AgencyFollow
Udaysankar S. Nair, University of Alabama in HuntsvilleFollow
Richard Betts, Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, Bracknell, Berkshire, UKFollow
Souleymane Fall, Tuskegee UniversityFollow
Markus Reichstein, Max-Planck-Institute for BiogeochemistryFollow
Pavel Kabat, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Nathalie de Noblet, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement Unité mixte, CEA-CNRS-UVSQFollow

Date of this Version

2011

Citation

Published as:

Pielke Sr., R. A., Pitman, A., Niyogi, D., Mahmood, R., McAlpine, C. Hossain, F., Klein Goldewijk, K., Nair, U., Betts, R., Fall, S., Reichstein, M., Kabat, P., de Noblet-Ducoudré, N. 2011. Land use/land cover changes and climate: Modeling analysis and observational evidence. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 2: 828-850,

doi: 10.1002/wcc.144.

Comments

RS-4127

Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Used by permission.

Abstract

This article summarizes the changes in landscape structure because of human land management over the last several centuries, and using observed and modeled data, documents how these changes have altered biogeophysical and biogeochemical surface fluxes on the local, mesoscale, and regional scales. Remaining research issues are presented including whether these landscape changes alter large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns far from where the land use and land cover changes occur. We conclude that existing climate assessments have not yet adequately factored in this climate forcing. For those regions that have undergone intensive human landscape change, or would undergo intensive change in the future, we conclude that the failure to factor in this forcing risks a misalignment of investment in climate mitigation and adaptation.