Global vegetation change predicted by the modified Budyko model

A modified Budyko global vegetation model is used to predict changes in global vegetation patterns resulting from climate change (CO₂ doubling). Vegetation patterns are predicted using a model based on a dryness index and potential evaporation determined by solving radiation balance equations. Climate change scenarios are derived from predictions from four General Circulation Models (GCM's) of the atmosphere (GFDL, GISS, OSU, and UKMO). Global vegetation maps after climate change are compared to the current climate vegetation map using the kappa statistic for judging agreement, as well as by calculating area statistics. All four GCM scenarios show similar trends in vegetation shifts and in areas that remain stable, although the UKMO scenario predicts greater warming than the others. Climate change maps produced by all four GCM scenarios show good agreement with the current climate vegetation map for the globe as a whole, although over half of the vegetation classes show only poor to fair agreement. The most stable areas are Desert and Ice/Polar Desert. Because most of the predicted warming is concentrated in the Boreal and Temperate zones, vegetation there is predicted to undergo the greatest change. Specifically, all Boreal vegetation classes are predicted to shrink. The interrelated classes of Tundra, Taiga, and Temperate Forest are predicted to replace much of their poleward (mostly northern) neighbors. Most vegetation classes in the Subtropics and Tropics are predicted to expand. Any shift in the Tropics favoring either Forest over Savanna, or vice versa, will be determined by the magnitude of the increased precipitation accompanying global warming. Although the model predicts equilibrium conditions to which many plant species cannot adjust (through migration or microevolution) in the 50–100 y needed for CO₂ doubling, it is nevertheless not clear if projected global warming will result in drastic or benign vegetation change.     

Potential effects of climate change on a semi-permanent prairie wetland

We assessed the potential effects of a greenhouse gas-induced global climate change on the hydrology and vegetation of a semi-permanent prairie wetland using a spatially-defined, rule-based simulation model. An 11-yr simulation was run using current versus enhanced greenhouse gas climates. Projections of climatic change were from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) general circulation model. Simulations were also run using a range of temperature (+2 and +4 °C) and precipitation change values (–20, –10, 0, +10, +20%) to determine the responsiveness of wetland vegetation and hydrology to a variety of climate scenarios.Maximum water depths were significantly less under the enhanced greenhouse gas scenario than under the current climate. The wetland dried in most years with increased temperature and changes in precipitation. Simulations also revealed a significant change in the vegetation, from a nearly balanced emergent cover to open water ratio to a completely closed basin with no open water areas. Simulations over a range of climate change scenarios showed that precipitation changes (particularly increases) had a greater impact on water levels and cover ratios when the temperature increase was moderate (+2 °C).These potential changes in wetland hydrology and vegetation could result in a dramatic decline in the quality of habitat for breeding birds, particularly waterfowl. Continued research on climate and wetland modeling is needed.     

Effects of Land Cover Conversion on Surface Climate

This study investigates the effects of large-scale human modification of land cover on regional and global climate. A general circulation model (Colorado State University GCM) coupled to a biophysically-based land surface model (SiB2) was used to run two 15-yr climate simulations. The control run used current vegetation distribution as observed by satellite for the year 1987 to derive the vegetation's physiological and morphological properties. The twin simulation used a realistic approximation of vegetation type distribution that would exist in the absence of human disturbance.In temperate latitudes, where anthropogenic modification of the landscape has converted large areas of forest and grassland to cropland, conversion cools canopy temperatures up to 0.7 ° C in summer and 1.1 ° C in winter. This cooling results from both (1) morphological changes in vegetation which increase albedo and (2) physiological changes in vegetation which increase latent heat flux of crops compared with undisturbed vegetation during the growing season. In the tropics and subtropics, conversion warms canopy temperature by about 0.8 ° C year round. The warming results from a combination of morphological changes in vegetation offset by physiological changes that reduce latent heat flux of existing compared with undisturbed vegetation. If water efficient, tropical C4 grasses replace C3 vegetation, latent heat flux is further reduced.The overall effect of land cover conversion is cooling in temperate latitudes and warming in the tropics. Because the effects are opposite in sign in tropics and middle latitudes, they cancel each other when averaged globally. Over land, the surface temperature increased by 0.2 C in winter and remained essentially unchanged in summer. The effects on land surface hydrology were also small when averaged globally. The results suggest that the effects of land use change of the observed magnitude do not have a strong impact on the globally averaged climate but their signature at regional scales is significant and vary according to the type of land cover conversion.     

The Impact of Agricultural Practices in China on Land-Atmosphere Interactions

Human-induced land use changes and the resulting alterations in vegetation features are major but poorly recognized drivers of regional climatic patterns.In order to investigate the impacts of anthropogenically-induced seasonal vegetation cover changes on regional climate in China,harmonic analysis is applied to 1982-2000 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer(AVVHRR)-derived normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI) time series(ten day interval data).For two climatic divisions of South China,it is shown that the first harmonic term is in phase with air temperature,while the second and third harmonics are in phase with agricultural cultivation.The Penman-Monteith Equation and the Complementary Relationship Areal Evapotranspiration(CRAE) model suggest that monthly mean evapotranspiration is out of phase with temperature and precipitation in regions with signiffcant second or third harmonics.Finally,seasonal vegetation cover changes associated with agricultural cultivation are identiffed:for cropped areas,the temperature and precipitation time series have a single maximum value,while the monthly evapotranspiration time series has a bimodal distribution.It is hypothesized that multi-cropping causes the land surface albedo to sharply increase during harvesting,thereby altering the energy distribution ratio and contributing to observed seasonal vegetation cover changes.     

基于GEE的阿坝红原机场建设前后植被覆盖度时空变化分析

借助Google Earth Engine平台，以阿坝红原机场周边15 km缓冲区为研究区，选取30 m分辨率的Landsat系列卫星数据，并采用像元二分模型对该区域2004-2020年5-9月的遥感影像进行反演,从整体和像元尺度对机场建设前后的植被覆盖度的空间格局、结构变化及趋势进行了深入分析。研究结果表明：(1)机场通航后，其西北及东北方向的草地植被生长状况较好，且植被覆盖度随海拔增加呈下降趋势；(2)在2004-2020年期间，低植被度覆盖度和中低植被度覆盖度的面积分别减少60.04%和43.07%，而中植被覆盖度、中高植被覆盖度和高植被覆盖度的面积分别增长15.13%、50.11%和61.22%；(3)研究区植被覆盖度显著改善面积远超显著退化面积，改善区主要集中于机场的西北、东北及正南方向，显著退化区主要位于机场的正北、西南及东南方向。该研究结果能够更好地了解研究区植被覆盖度的动态变化，为机场周边生态环境的后续监测、修复和治理提供了基础数据，为生态环境保护和可持续发展提供更为科学的依据。     

Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Fire Regimes in the Tropics Based on Magicc and a GISS GCM-Derived Lightning Model

Investigations of the ecological, atmospheric chemical, and climatic impacts of contemporary fires in tropical vegetation have received increasing attention during the last 10 years. Little is known, however, about the impacts of climate changes on tropical vegetation and wildland fires. This paper summarizes the main known interactions of fire, vegetation, and atmosphere. Examples of predictive models on the impacts of climate change on the boreal and temperate zones are given in order to highlight the possible impacts on the tropical forest and savanna biomes and to demonstrate parameters that need to be involved in this process. Response of tropical vegetation to fire is characterized by degradation towards xerophytic and pyrophytic plant communities dominated by grasses and fire-tolerant tree and bush invaders. The potential impacts of climate change on tropical fire regimes are investigated using a GISS GCM-based lightning and fire model and the Model for the Assessment of Greenhouse Gas-Induced Climate Change (MAGICC).     

The effect of vegetation changes on precipitation and Mesoscale Convective Systems in the Sahel

A number of general circulation model studies have assessed the impact of degradation of the land surface in the Sahel, mostly with idealized degradation scenarios. This paper builds on the previous research by testing the sensitivity of Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCS) and associated rainfall amounts to observed vegetation changes using a regional atmospheric model. Over the last 20 years, the vegetation in the Sahel has recovered from the drought in the 1980s and vegetation cover values have increased up to 20%. The sensitivity for both a vegetation increase and a decrease by these realistic amounts is investigated. The model simulations span 42 days of the rainy season and are centred over the region of the Hydrological and Atmospheric Pilot Experiment in the Sahel (HAPEX-Sahel), of which the data are used to evaluate model results. The model is able to correctly reproduce rainfall amounts and atmospheric profiles. Total precipitation is found to be insensitive to the applied vegetation changes, but the latter do have an impact on the rainfall patterns and the location of MCS. The model results indicate that the change in vegetation cover influences the MCS in two different ways: Firstly, the vegetation change is found to affect the surface fluxes and this in turn is found to affect the Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) and thereby the strength of the convective systems. The relation between vegetation cover and CAPE turns out to be affected by the time in-between precipitation events. Secondly, a change in atmospheric dynamics, especially the mid-tropospheric zonal flow, is modelled as response to a change in the spatial temperature and humidity distribution. Both mechanisms are likely to play a role in determining the characteristics of the rainfall pattern.     

Decadal variability of rainfall in the Sahel: results from the coupled GENESIS-IBIS atmosphere-biosphere model

In this study we investigate the impact of large-scale oceanic forcing and local vegetation feedback on the variability of the Sahel rainfall using a global biosphere-atmosphere model, the coupled GENESIS-IBIS model, running at two different resolutions. The observed global sea surface temperature in the twentieth century is used as the primary model forcing. Using this coupled global model, we experiment on treating vegetation as a static boundary condition and as a dynamic component of the Earth climate system. When vegetation is dynamic, the R30-resolution model realistically reproduces the multi-decadal scale fluctuation of rainfall in the Sahel region; keeping vegetation static in the same model results in a rainfall regime characterized by fluctuations at much shorter time scales, indicating that vegetation dynamics act as a mechanism for persistence of the regional climate. Even when vegetation dynamics is included, the R15 model fails to capture the main characteristics of the long-term rainfall variability due to the exaggerated atmospheric internal variability in the coarse resolution model. Regardless how vegetation is treated and what model resolution is used, conditions in the last three decades of the twentieth century are always drier than normal in the Sahel, suggesting that global oceanic forcing during that period favors the occurrence of a drought. Vegetation dynamics is found to enhance the severity of this drought. However, with both the observed global SST forcing and feedback from dynamic vegetation in the model, the simulated drought is still not as persistent as that observed. This indicates that anthropogenic land cover changes, a mechanism missing in the model, may have contributed to the occurrence of the twentieth century drought in the Sahel.     

Coupled atmosphere-ocean-vegetation simulations for modern and mid-Holocene climates: role of extratropical vegetation cover feedbacks

A full global atmosphere-ocean-land vegetation model is used to examine the coupled climate/vegetation changes in the extratropics between modern and mid-Holocene (6,000 year BP) times and to assess the feedback of vegetation cover changes on the climate response. The model produces a relatively realistic natural vegetation cover and a climate sensitivity comparable to that realized in previous studies. The simulated mid-Holocene climate led to an expansion of boreal forest cover into polar tundra areas (mainly due to increased summer/fall warmth) and an expansion of middle latitude grass cover (due to a combination of enhanced temperature seasonality with cold winters and interior drying of the continents). The simulated poleward expansion of boreal forest and middle latitude expansion of grass cover are consistent with previous modeling studies. The feedback effect of expanding boreal forest in polar latitudes induced a significant spring warming and reduced snow cover that partially countered the response produced by the orbitally induced changes in radiative forcing. The expansion of grass cover in middle latitudes worked to reinforce the orbital forcing by contributing a spring cooling, enhanced snow cover, and a delayed soil water input by snow melt. Locally, summer rains tended to increase (decrease) in areas with greatest tree cover increases (decreases); however, for the broad-scale polar and middle latitude domains the climate responses produced by the changes in vegetation are relatively much smaller in summer/fall than found in previous studies. This study highlights the need to develop a more comprehensive strategy for investigating vegetation feedbacks.     

The impact of land cover change on the atmospheric circulation

 The NCAR Community Climate Model (version 3), coupled to the Biosphere Atmosphere Transfer scheme and a mixed layer ocean model is used to investigate the impact on the climate of a conservative change from natural to present land cover. Natural vegetation cover was obtained from an ecophysiologically constrained biome model. The current vegetation cover was obtained by perturbing the natural cover from forest to grass over areas where land cover has been observed to change. Simulations were performed for 17 years for each case (results from the last 15 years are presented here). We find that land cover changes, largely constrained to the tropics, SE Asia, North America and Europe, cause statistically significant changes in regional temperature and precipitation but cause no impact on the globally averaged temperature or precipitation. The perturbation in land cover in the tropics and SE Asia teleconnect to higher latitudes by changing the position and strength of key elements of the general circulation (the Hadley and Walker circulations). Many of the areas where statistically significant changes occur are remote from the location of land cover change. Historical land cover change is not typically included in transitory climate simulations, and it may be that the simulation of the patterns of temperature change over the twentieth century by climate models will be further improved by taking it into account. Received: 27 May 1999 / Accepted: July 2000     

基于遥感和GIS的中国植被指数变化的驱动因子分析及模型研究

在样带和典型区研究的基础上,采用相关分析和偏相关分析方法,对影响植被指数变化的因子（水、热和地表植被覆盖类型）进行了分析。结果表明：中国植被指数的时空变化极其复杂,虽受水、热和地表植被覆盖类型三个主导因子的影响和控制,但因时和因地而异,三者对植被指数影响和控制的主导地位也因时因地而不同;基于空间上的概念模型Indv=F(x,y,z)只能定性地描述以上三个主导因子时空变化同植被指数的相互关系。     

半干旱区植被减少与城市化对大气的局地和非局地影响的数值模拟

利用中尺度模式对一半干旱地区植被和下垫面发生改变后大气产生的局地和非局地的响应进行了模拟分析.结果表明,植被变化对区域内温度的影响比较复杂,并有明显的日变化.相比与区域城市化形成的强而稳定的增温中心,植被减少只会在区域形成较弱而间断的增温中心并敏感地依赖于地面净能量在感热、潜热和土壤热通量之间的分配.区域内植被变化和下垫面特性的改变导致的局地温度变化在背景风场的作用下向区域外传播,其传播的细节与风场的特征和地形密切相关.在适当的环流背景下,迎风坡下垫面改变导致的温度变化可在背景风场的输送下,绕过很高的山脊在背风坡形成一个持久的变温中心.植被减少导致的变温中心会在原有的环流形式上叠加一个强迫的二级环流.在中等风速条件下,近地面约1K的区域变温所造成的二级环流深度可达到1.1 km.区域植被的减少,一方面减少了地面向上的水汽输送,导致了区域内气柱水汽含量的减少;另一方面增温引起的强迫二级环流会使区域外水汽向内输送,部分地补偿了地面向上输送水汽的减少,但是二者总体的效果是区域内的气柱水汽总量减少.在实验区域之外,上风向趋于增湿而下风向趋于减湿.     

Net primary production of terrestrial ecosystems from 2000 to 2009

The CASA (Carnegie-Ames-Stanford) ecosystem model has been used to estimate monthly carbon fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems from 2000 to 2009, with global data inputs from NASA??s Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) vegetation cover mapping. Net primary production (NPP) flux for atmospheric carbon dioxide has varied slightly from year-to-year, but was predicted to have increased over short multi-year periods in the regions of the high-latitude Northern Hemisphere, South Asia, Central Africa, and the western Amazon since the year 2000. These CASA results for global NPP were found to be in contrast to other recently published modeling trends for terrestrial NPP with high sensitivity to regional drying patterns. Nonetheless, periodic declines in regional NPP were predicted by CASA for the southern and western Untied States, the southern Amazon, and southern and eastern Africa. NPP in tropical forest zones was examined in greater detail to discover lower annual production values than previously reported in many global models across the tropical rainforest zones, likely due to the enhanced detection of lower production ecosystems replacing primary rainforest.     

Role of dynamic vegetation in regional climate predictions over western Africa

This study examines the role of vegetation dynamics in regional predictions of future climate change in western Africa using a dynamic vegetation model asynchronously coupled to a regional climate model. Two experiments, one for present day and one for future, are conducted with the linked regional climate-vegetation model, and the third with the regional climate model standing alone that predicts future climate based on present-day vegetation. These simulations are so designed in order to tease out the impact of structural vegetation feedback on simulated climate and hydrological processes. According to future predictions by the regional climate-vegetation model, increase in LAI is widespread, with significant shift in vegetation type. Over the Guinean Coast in 2084–2093, evergreen tree coverage decreases by 49% compared to 1984–1993, while drought deciduous tree coverage increases by 56%. Over the Sahel region in the same period, grass cover increases by 31%. Such vegetation changes are accompanied by a decrease of JJA rainfall by 2% over the Guinean Coast and an increase by 23% over the Sahel. This rather small decrease or large increase of precipitation is largely attributable to the role of vegetation feedback. Without the feedback effect from vegetation, the regional climate model would have predicted a 5% decrease of JJA rainfall in both the Guinean Coast and the Sahel as a result of the radiative and physiological effects of higher atmospheric CO₂ concentration. These results demonstrate that climate- and CO₂-induced changes in vegetation structure modify hydrological processes and climate at magnitudes comparable to or even higher than the radiative and physiological effects, thus evincing the importance of including vegetation feedback in future climate predictions.     

CHARACTERISTICS OF VEGETATION COVER, ROUGHNESS AND ALBEDO DISTRIBUTION OVER CHINA*

To build land surface dataset for climate model,with application of remote sensing technique as well as the Geographic Information System(GIS),the data of surface type,roughness and albedo over China in 1997 were retrieved,resolutions being 10 km×10 km.Based on these data,an analysis is conducted on the geographic distributions and seasonal variations of surface vegetation cover and roughness as well as albedo over China.Results show that surface vegetation cover is mainly located to the south of Yangtze River,in Southwest and Northeast China andsparse vegetation cover is in the Northwest.The variation of land surface cover affects the variations of land surface roughness and albedo.High albedo occurred in the north of Xinjiang Autonomous Region,the north of Northeast China and the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau in winter,in correspondence with the location of snow cover.For most part of China,surface roughness decreases and albedo increases in winter,while the roughness increases and the albedo decreases in summer,which could mainly result from land surface cover(snow cover and vegetation cover)and soil moisture changes.This shows that the geographic distribution and seasonal variation of the albedo are almost opposite to those of the roughness,in agreement with theoretical results.Temporally,the amplitude of surface roughness change is quite small in comparison with the roughness itself.     

Modeling impacts of vegetation in western China on the summer climate of northwestern China

Using the monthly NCEP-NCAR reanalysis dataset, the monthly temperature and precipitation at surface stations of China, and the MM5 model, we examine impacts of vegetation cover changes in western China on the interdecadal variability of the summer climate over northwestern China during the past 30 years. It is found that the summer atmospheric circulation, surface air temperature, and rainfall in the 1990s were different from those in the 1970s over northwestern China, with generally more rainfall and higher temperatures in the 1990s. Associated with these changes, an anomalous wave train appears in the lower troposphere at the midlatitudes of East Asia and the low-pressure system to the north of the Tibetan Plateau is weaker. Meanwhile, the South Asian high in the upper troposphere is also located more eastward. Numerical experiments show that change of vegetation cover in western China generally forces anomalous circulations and temperatures and rainfall over these regions. This consistency between the observations and simulations implies that the interdecadal variability of the summer climate over northwestern China between the 1990s and 1970s may result from a change of vegetation cover over western China.     

Validation of model improvements for the GISS GCM

The general circulation model of the NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS GCM) was designed primarily for global climate change and climate sensitivity applications. The modelling group at GISS has developed new and more physically appropriate parameterizations of meteorological/hydrological processes which are being validated in an effort to improve the performance of the Model II version of the GISS GCM. This study discusses some preliminary evaluations of this testing based on multiple-year simulations at 4° latitude by 5° longitude horizontal resolution. These runs individually incorporate new formulations of the planetary boundary layer (PBL), the moist cumulus convection scheme and the ground hydrology and compare results using B-grid and C-grid numerics. The new PBL produces a realistically stronger tropical surface circulation, while the new cumulus scheme generates more realistic distributions of tropical convection and moisture. The main impact of the more sophisticated ground hydrology model is to increase surface air temperatures. Improvements in modelled sea level pressure and rainfall features by the C-grid are somewhat offset by increases in speed excesses at the cores of the summer hemisphere westerly jets. Each modelling innovation targeted a different aspect of the climate not adequately represented by Model II. However, since the various modelling changes were tested individually, the present evaluation could not demonstrate many dramatic improvements in the simulated climates. This documentation of impacts should, however, serve as a benchmark for the validation of future simulations of the GISS GCM that combine all of the modelling improvements.     

The potential effects of climate change on summer season dairy cattle milk production and reproduction

The potential direct effects of possible global warming on summer season dairy production and reproduction were evaluated for the United States and Europe. Algorithms used for milk production and conception rate were previously developed and validated. Three widely known global circulation models (GISS, GFDL, and UKMO) were used to represent possible scenarios of future climate. Milk production and conception rate declines were highest under the UKMO model scenario and lowest under the GISS model scenario. Predicted declines for the GCM scenarios are generally higher than either 1 year in 10 probability-based declines or declines based on the abnormally hot summer of 1980 in the United States. The greatest declines (about 10% for the GISS and GFDL scenarios, and about 20% for the UKMO scenario) in the United States are predicted to occur in the Southeast and the Southwest. Substantial declines (up to 35%) in conception rates were also predicted in many locations, particularly the eastern and southern United States. These areas correspond to areas of high dairy cattle concentration. They already have relatively large summer season milk production declines resulting from normally hot conditions. Thus, the actual impacts of increased production declines may be greater in other areas, which are not accustomed to large summer season declines and therefore may require more extensive mitigation measures.Published as Paper No. 9698 Journal Series, Nebraska Agricultural Research Division. The work reported here was conducted under Nebraska Agricultural Research Division Project 27–007.     

Recent progress in studies on land cover change and its regional climatic effects over China during historical times

The recent progresses on the reconstruction of historical land cover and the studies on regional climatic effects to temperature,precipitation,and the East Asian Monsoon across China were reviewed.Findings show that the land cover in China has been significantly modified by human activities over the last several thousands years,mainly through cropland expansion and forest clearance.The cropland over traditional Chinese agricultural areas increased from 5.32×105 km2 in the mid-17th century to 8.27×105 km2 in...     

Parametrization of Heterogeneous Snowmelt

Summary Melting snow is often patchy, and advection of heat from warm patches of snow-free ground can accelerate the melting. For large-scale atmospheric modelling applications, snowmelt rates and fluxes of heat and moisture over surfaces with snow cover distributed on scales too small to be resolved by the model grid have to be parametrized. In this paper, a boundary-layer model is used to model advection over surfaces with short vegetation and varying fractions of snow cover. Boundary-layer model results are used to assess the performance of a tile model, which calculates separate fluxes for snow-covered and snow-free fractions of the surface given area-average temperatures, humidities and windspeeds at a reference height in the atmosphere. It is found that the tile model can give good results, but its performance depends strongly on the choice of reference height. Received August 21, 1997 Revised February 23, 1998