Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
average latent heat flux in the whole Northeast China would show a decreasing
trend during 2010-2030 under the three scenarios, while the average sensible heat
flux will show an increasing trend. In addition, there is significant spatial heter-
ogeneity in the change of both the latent heat flux and sensible heat flux. The latent
heat flux will decrease slightly in most parts of the study area, but it will decrease
most obviously in some regions where a lot of cultivated land will change into
urban and built-up land, while it will increase most obviously in some parts of the
study area where the cultivated land will mainly change into forests.
By comparison, the sensible heat flux will show an increasing trend on the
whole during 2010-2030, the simulation results under three scenarios suggest that
it will increase most obviously in the northern part of Great Khingan Mountains
and Lesser Khingan Mountains, where a lot of cultivated land will change into
urban and built-up land, while it will increase most slightly in the regions where
the cultivated land will mainly change into forests or grassland. Although there are
some uncertainties in the simulation result, it still can provide some useful
information for the land managers to regulate the land use more scientifically.
4.3 Estimated Effects of Land Cover Changes on the Near-
Surface Temperature in North China
The North China Plain has been selected as the study area in this study. First, it has
long been one of the most densely populated regions in China, its current city
density is relative high, and industries and agriculture are well-developed in this
region. The rapid economy growth and increasing population have led to dramatic
land use/cover change in this region, and human disturbance to natural environ-
ment is especially significant, which greatly influences sustainable development of
whole China. Second, the North China Plain is a typical area of monsoon climate
as well as the transient region between the humid and subhumid region and the
arid and semiarid region. On the one hand, the plain agriculture can be sustained
for a long time due the local climatic conditions. On the other hand, the local
climatic conditions also lead to more frequent droughts, make the agricultural
production extremely unstable and consequently may lead to greater economic loss
and more extensive social influence. Therefore, it is of great importance to study
the influence of LUCC on the climate in the North China Plain.
This study first tests the ability of WRF model to simulate the change of the
near-surface temperature in the North China Plain, based on which the static land
use data in WRF are then replaced. Thereafter, the modified WRF is used to study
the influence of the land use/cover change on the near-surface temperature in the
North China Plain in year 1992 and 2005. The result can contribute to a better
understanding of the influencing factors of the climate in the North China Plain so
as to minimize the negative influence and maximize the positive influence on the
regional climate, which is helpful to the scientific regional land use planning and
management in China in the future.
