Advances in Earth Science ›› 2006, Vol. 21 ›› Issue (10): 1075-1082. doi: 10.11867/j.issn.1001-8166.2006.10.1075

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Simulating the Effect of Changed Vegetation on the Climate Change in Eurasia

Chen Xing,Lei Ming,Tang Jianping   

  1. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093,China
  • Received:2006-04-24 Revised:2006-08-24 Online:2006-10-15 Published:2006-10-15

Chen Xing,Lei Ming,Tang Jianping. Simulating the Effect of Changed Vegetation on the Climate Change in Eurasia[J]. Advances in Earth Science, 2006, 21(10): 1075-1082.

The global land cover has been changed in the last hundreds of years due to human activity. Land cover change (LCC) affects climate through the surface energy and moisture budgets. The purpose of this study is to understand the climatic effects of these physical processes by numerical simulation. We used an AGCM+SSiB model to simulate the sensitivity of climate changes due to the land cover change. The studying area is Eurasia. Equilibrium climatic state simulations were conducted in summer and winter by using estimated land cover for the years of 1700,1800,1900,1950 and 1990. Each simulation experiment run 11 years and the average of the results of the last 10 years represents mean climate state. The LCC between these periods was extensive over Eurasia, where large area altered from forest to either grass or crops, or from natural grassland to crops. Results show that the effect of LCC on climate change is very complex, and there are statistically significant impacts in the most middle latitudes. We can summarize some primer conclusions. With the degradation of vegetation from 1700 to 1950, in East Asia the climate was warmer in summer and colder in winter and in Europe it was both colder. The summer precipitation in South China decreased while the Asian summer monsoon was weakening. From 1950 to 1990, the effects are not significant because the LCC is not obvious compared to the time before 1950.

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