Radiative forcing over China due to albedo change caused by land cover change during 1990-2010

doi:10.1007/s11442-014-1120-4

Abstract

Abstract:

Land cover change affects surface radiation budget and energy balance by changing surface albedo and further impacts the regional and global climate. In this article, high spatial and temporal resolution satellite products were used to analyze the driving mechanism for surface albedo change caused by land cover change during 1990-2010. In addition, the annual-scale radiative forcing caused by surface albedo changes in China’s 50 ecological regions were calculated to reveal the biophysical mechanisms of land cover change affecting climate change at regional scale. Our results showed that the national land cover changes were mainly caused by land reclamation, grassland desertification and urbanization in past 20 years, which were almost induced by anthropogenic activities. Grassland and forest area decreased by 0.60% and 0.11%, respectively. The area of urban and farmland increased by 0.60% and 0.19%, respectively. The mean radiative forcing caused by land cover changes during 1990-2010 was 0.062 W/m² in China, indicating a warming climate effect. However, spatial heterogeneity of radiative forcing was huge among different ecological regions. Farmland conversing to urban construction land, the main type of land cover change for the urban and suburban agricultural ecological region in Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan region, caused an albedo reduction by 0.00456 and a maximum positive radiative forcing of 0.863 W/m², which was presented as warming climate effects. Grassland and forest conversing to farmland, the main type of land cover change for the temperate humid agricultural and wetland ecological region in Sanjiang Plain, caused an albedo increase by 0.00152 and a maximum negative radiative forcing of 0.184 W/m², implying cooling climate effects.

Key words: ecological region, land cover change, surface albedo, downward shortwave radiation, surface radiative forcing, China

Jun ZHAI, Jun ZHAI, Ronggao LIU, Guosong ZHAO, Lin HUANG. Radiative forcing over China due to albedo change caused by land cover change during 1990-2010[J].Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2014, 24(5): 789-801.

Figures/Tables 8

Table 1

Serial numbers and names of 50 ecological regions in China"

No.	Ecological regions	No.	Ecological regions
1	The deciduous coniferous forest ecological region in Northern Greater Khingan Range	26	The hilly evergreen broad-leaved forest ecological region in Nanling Mountains
2	The coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest ecological region in Lesser Khingan Range	27	The evergreen broad-leaved forest ecological region in northern Taiwan
3	The temperate agricultural and wetland ecological region in Sanjiang Plain	28	The hilly evergreen broad-leaved forest ecological region in central Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong province, and southern Fujian province
4	The mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forest ecological region in Changbai-Qianshan mountains	29	The urban and suburban agricultural ecological region in Pearl River Delta
5	The agricultural ecological region in eastern part of Northeast China Plain	30	The tropical monsoon forest and rainforest ecological region in southern Taiwan
6	The meadow steppe ecological region in western part of Northeast China Plain	31	The tropical monsoon forest and rainforest ecological region in southern Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong province
7	The deciduous forest and forest steppe ecological region in central and southern parts of Greater Khingan Range	32	The tropical agricultural ecological region around Hainan Island
8	The hilly deciduous broad-leaved forest ecological region in eastern Liaoning and Shandong province	33	The mountain rainforest and monsoon forest ecological region in central Hainan province
9	The urban and suburban agricultural ecological region in Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan region	34	The typical steppe ecological region in central and eastern Inner Mongolia Plateau
10	The deciduous forest ecological region in Yanshan-Taihang Mountain	35	The desert steppe ecological region in central Inner Mongolia Plateau and central Gansu province
11	The agricultural ecological region in Fenhe-Weihe River Basin	36	The steppe desert ecological region in central Inner Mongolia Plateau
12	The agricultural and steppe ecological region on Loess Plateau	37	The mountain desert ecological region in western Inner Mongolia Plateau and Beishan Mountain
13	The agricultural ecological region in North China Plain	38	The mountain forest and grassland ecological region in Altai Mountains and eastern Junggar
14	The hilly evergreen broad-leaved forest ecological region in Huaiyang region	39	The desert ecological region in Junggar Basin
15	The deciduous and evergreen broad-leaved forest ecological region in Qinling-Daba Mountains	40	The mountain forest and steppe ecological region in Tianshan Mountains
16	The urban and suburban agricultural ecological region in the Yangtze River Delta	41	The desert ecological region in Tarim Basin and eastern Xinjiang
17	The agricultural ecological region in middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin	42	The forest and alpine grassland ecological region in Qilian Mountain
18	The ecological region of Three Gorges Reservoir	43	The desert ecological region in Qaidam Basin
19	The agroforestry ecological region in Sichuan Basin	44	The alpine desert steppe ecological region in Pamir-Kunlun-Altun Mountains
20	The evergreen broad-leaved forest ecological region in Tianmu-Huaiyu Mountains	45	The alpine meadow steppe ecological region in River’s Source Region and southern Gansu province
21	The hilly evergreen broad-leaved forest ecological region in Zhejiang and Fujian province	46	The alpine desert steppe ecological region on northern Tibet Plateau
22	The hilly evergreen broad-leaved forest ecological region in Hunan and Jiangxi province	47	The temperate arid mountain desert ecological region in Ali Mountains
23	The evergreen broad-leaved forest ecological region in Wuling-Xuefeng Mountains	48	The cold temperate coniferous forest ecological region in eastern Tibet and western Sichuan province
24	The karst evergreen broad-leaved forest ecological region in Central Guizhou province	49	The mountain alpine meadow steppe ecological region in southern Tibet
25	The evergreen broad-leaved forest ecological region in southwestern Sichuan province, northern and central Yunnan province	50	The rainforest and monsoon forest ecological region in southeastern Tibet

Table 1

Figure 1

Table 2

Figure 3

Figure 2

Figure 4

Figure 5

Table 3

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Land cover type	Area (1990)	Area (2010)	Area change (1990-2010)
Cropland	140.58	142.40	1.82
Woodland	227.91	227.05	-0.85
Grassland	288.55	283.23	-5.32
Water body	21.17	21.69	0.51
Built-up land	17.25	22.77	5.52
Bare land	200.96	200.69	-0.27
Permanent snow and ice	4.69	4.67	-0.02
Swampland	12.76	11.87	-0.89

Ecological region (No.)	Radiative forcing (W/m²)	Mean annul monthly SSRD (W/m²)	Mean annul monthly albedo change	Main land cover change
The urban and suburban agricultural ecological region in Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan region(9)	0.863	183.9	-0.00465	Cropland to built-up land
The urban and suburban agricultural ecological region in the Yangtze River Delta (16)	0.459	181.9	-0.00249	Cropland to built-up land
The deciduous forest and forest steppe ecological region in central and southern parts of Greater Khingan Range (7)	0.449	170.8	-0.00256	Woodland and grassland to cropland
The hilly deciduous broad-leaved forest ecological region in eastern Liaoning and Shandong provinces (8)	0.245	188.1	-0.00129	Grassland to built-up land
The agricultural ecological region in North China Plain (13)	0.243	185.4	-0.00131	Cropland to built-up land
The temperate agricultural and wetland ecological region in Sanjiang Plain (3)	-0.184	148.2	0.00152	Woodland and grassland to cropland
The deciduous coniferous forest ecological region in Northern Greater Khingan Range (1)	-0.172	143.3	0.00121	Woodland to grassland
The coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest ecological region in Lesser Khingan Range (2)	-0.102	143.7	0.00093	Woodland and grassland to cropland
The mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forest ecological region in Changbai-Qianshan mountains (4)	-0.025	156.5	0.00021	Woodland to cropland
The steppe desert ecological region in central Inner Mongolia Plateau (36)	-0.023	210.8	0.00008	Grassland to bare land

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