Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
On the other hand, the climate model is an effective tool to study LUCC on surface
climate, but how should it be applied to the research on the regional effects of LUCC?
The framework of LUCD model compatible with RCMs is introduced in this chapter.
Framework and modules of LUCD models are introduced in the first part. The
Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model, as a next-generation mesoscale
numerical weather prediction system, is explained in detail in the second section.
The land use simulation model is an important tool to analyze the LUCC, which
plays a key role in influencing the global climate. However, there have been few
global LUCC simulation models, especially these that can be used to analyze the
interaction among the socioeconomic development, climate change and LUCC.
The Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM) and the GTAP-AEZ model take
account of the influence of social economy and climate change at the global scale,
but they may have some parameter errors due to the rough parameter setting. This
study aims to compare the simulation results obtained with the GCAM model and
GTAP-AEZ model and optimize their parameters according to the specific con-
ditions of China, presented in the last section.
2.1 LUCD: Framework and Modules
LUCC is an important part of the global environmental change, which has always
been the academic hot spot. Many simulation experiments have proven that the
simulation results of RCMs are sensitive to underlying land use and land cover
changes (Shepherd et al.
2010
). While the interaction between land use change and
climate change has been fully realized, most RCMs introduce LUCC data exoge-
nously (Cai et al.
2010
). Always, they apply the LUCC data of one year of history as
underlying surfaces and keep them constant ignoring the interaction between LUCC
and climate variations. This section provides a framework of LUCD model com-
patible with RCMs to introduce parameterized LUCC into regional climate change
modeling endogenously. Several suggested models are introduced and some specific
parameter processing approaches are explained in detail. This modeling framework
helps to enhance the understanding of the coupling mechanism of land use system
and climatic system, and strengthen the simulation capability of land system.
Land system is geographically complex, which is composed of natural factors,
human land use activities, and other impact factors (GLP
2005
). Land use change
simulation is a prediction of when, where, why, and how land use pattern changes
(Deng et al.
2010a
,
b
). However, studies on land use change processes are often
challenged by the complex and unexpected human activities and natural con-
straints. Land use change emerges from the interactions among various compo-
nents of the coupled human-landscape system and feeds back to the subsequent
development of these interactions (Le et al.
2008
). Most land use change simu-
lation models simulate successional pattern change of land use under the macro
background of the regional population growth, economic development, social
progress, changes in the natural environment, and other facts (Liu and Deng
2010
).
