IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/climat/v144y2017i3d10.1007_s10584-016-1848-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Potential impact of reforestation programmes and uncertainties in land cover effects over the loess plateau: a regional climate modeling study

Author

Listed:
  • Lang Wang

    (Macquarie University
    The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

  • Kevin K. W. Cheung

    (Macquarie University)

Abstract

Using the Regional Climate Model version 4.3 (RegCM4.3), this paper investigates the potential effects of reforestation on the regional climate over the Loess Plateau in China with a focus on land-atmosphere interactions. Two land surface schemes are used here: the default Biosphere Atmosphere Transfer Scheme (BATS) and the Community Land Model version 3.5 (CLM3.5). Five simulations using a series of hypothetical reforestation scenarios from 1990 to 2009 have been performed. Results show that in the default BATS simulations, the surface air temperature increases significantly during both summer (June–July-August) and winter (December–January-February) seasons. These patterns are particularly evident over the south-eastern plateau where extensive areas of irrigated crop are converted to forest. In experiments with CLM3.5 and BATS with non-irrigation, in which irrigated crops are specified as regular crops, reforestation generally produces a more pronounced cooling effect in summer, and a slight cooling winter in CLM3.5 but a slight warming in BATS with non-irrigation. The land surface energy balance equation involving latent heat flux (LHF), absorbed solar radiation and downward atmospheric longwave radiation is used to explain the reforestation-induced seasonal responses. In the default BATS simulations, increased temperature induced by reforestation is predominantly driven by the reduced year round LHF. In contrast, the reforestation-induced summer cooling in CLM3.5 and BATS with non-irrigation is caused by the enhanced LHF. This study suggests that the default parameterization of irrigated crop in BATS overestimates soil water content and leading to excessive evapotranspiration (ET) in the Loess Plateau. Hence, non-irrigated cropland would be a more plausible land cover representation for the Loess Plateau, as demonstrated from the reforestation simulations using CLM3.5 and BATS with non-irrigation. An improved description of land characteristics in climate models is highly needed for a more reliable prediction of climate responses to land surface change.

Suggested Citation

  • Lang Wang & Kevin K. W. Cheung, 2017. "Potential impact of reforestation programmes and uncertainties in land cover effects over the loess plateau: a regional climate modeling study," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 475-490, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:144:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s10584-016-1848-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-016-1848-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10584-016-1848-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10584-016-1848-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ribaudo, Marc O. & Colacicco, Daniel & Langner, Linda L. & Piper, Steven & Schaible, Glenn D., 1990. "Natural Resources and Users Benefit from the Conservation Reserve Program," Agricultural Economic Reports 308085, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zong-Liang Yang & Zhuguo Ma, 2017. "Foreword to the special issue: decadal scale drought in arid regions," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 389-390, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Magleby, Richard & Sandretto, Carmen & Crosswhite, William & Osborn, C. Tim, 1995. "Soil Erosion and Conservation in the United States: An Overview," Agricultural Information Bulletins 309733, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. Young, C. Edwin & Osborn, C. Tim, 1990. "The Conservation Reserve Program: An Economic Assessment," Agricultural Economic Reports 308084, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    3. Smith, Vincent H. & Goodwin, Barry K., 2003. "An Ex Post Evaluation of the Conservation Reserve, Federal Crop Insurance, and Other Government Programs: Program Participation and Soil Erosion," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 28(2), pages 1-16, August.
    4. Johansson, Robert C. & Cooper, Joseph C. & Vasavada, Utpal, 2005. "Greener Acres or Greener Waters? Potential U.S. Impacts of Agricultural Trade Liberalization," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 34(1), pages 1-12, April.
    5. Jaroszewski, Laura & Poe, Gregory L. & Boisvert, Richard N., 2000. "Allocating Land To New York'S Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program To Maximize Net Environmental Benefits," 2000 Annual meeting, July 30-August 2, Tampa, FL 21882, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    6. Jolly, Robert W. & Vontalge, Alan L. & Peterson, Brian & Sprague, Rick, 1995. "When the Crp Ends: A Look at Production Alternatives for Highly Erodible Land in Southern Iowa," Staff General Research Papers Archive 11435, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    7. K. W. Belcher & M. M. Boehm & R. P. Zentner, 2003. "The Economic Value of Soil Quality under Alternative Management in the Canadian Prairies," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 51(2), pages 175-196, July.
    8. Claassen, Roger & Hansen, LeRoy T. & Peters, Mark & Breneman, Vincent E. & Weinberg, Marca & Cattaneo, Andrea & Feather, Peter & Gadsby, Dwight M. & Hellerstein, Daniel & Hopkins, Jeffrey W. & Johnsto, 2001. "Agri-Environmental Policy at the Crossroads: Guideposts on a Changing Landscape," Agricultural Economic Reports 33983, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    9. Lynch, Sarah, 1994. "Designing Green Support Programs," Policy Studies Program Reports, Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture, number 134111, January.
    10. Skaggs, Rhonda K. & Ghosh, Soumen, 1999. "Assessing Changes In Soil Erosion Rates: A Markov Chain Analysis," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 31(3), pages 1-12, December.
    11. Claassen, Roger & Breneman, Vincent E. & Bucholtz, Shawn & Cattaneo, Andrea & Johansson, Robert C. & Morehart, Mitchell J., 2004. "Environmental Compliance In U.S. Agricultural Policy: Past Performance And Future Potential," Agricultural Economic Reports 34033, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    12. Feather, Peter & Hellerstein, Daniel & Hansen, LeRoy T., 1999. "Economic Valuation of Environmental Benefits and the Targeting of Conservation Programs: The Case of the CRP," Agricultural Economic Reports 34027, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    13. Hansen, LeRoy & Ribaudo, Marc, 2008. "Economic Measures of Soil Conservation Benefits: Regional Values for Policy Assessment," Technical Bulletins 184312, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:144:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s10584-016-1848-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.