ADVANCES IN CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH 4(3): 166-172, 2013

www.climatechange.cn

DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1248.2013.166

IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Impacts of Regional-Scale Land Use/Land Cover Change

on Diurnal Temperature Range

HUA Wen-Jian, CHEN Hai-Shan

Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Information

Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China

Abstract

The NCAR Community Atmosphere Model (CAM4.0) was used to investigate the climate effects of land use/land

cover change (LUCC). Two simulations, one with potential land cover without significant human intervention and the

other with current land use, were conducted. Results show that the impacts of LUCC on diurnal temperature range

(DTR) are more significant than on mean surface air temperature. The global average annual DTR change due to LUCC

is –0.1◦C, which is three times as large as the mean temperature change. LUCC influences regional DTR as simulated

by the model. In the mid-latitudes, LUCC leads to a decrease in DTR, which is mainly caused by the reduction in

daily maximum temperature. However, there are some differences in the low latitudes. The reduction in DTR in East

Asia is mainly the result of the decrease in daily maximum temperature, while in India, the decrease in DTR is due to

the increase in daily minimum temperature. In general, the LUCC significantly controls the DTR change through the

changes in canopy evaporation and transpiration.

Keywords: land use/land cover change; diurnal temperature range; climate change

Citation: Hua, W.-J., and H.-S. Chen, 2013: Impacts of regional-scale land use/land cover change on diurnal temper-

ature range. Adv. Clim. Change Res., 4(3), doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1248.2013.166.

1 Introduction

Since the middle of the 20th century, global warm-

ing is unequivocal and has been closely related to hu-

man activities, as is evident from observations of in-

creases in global average temperatures [IPCC, 2007].

Some studies [Karl et al., 1991; Easterling et al., 1997]

suggested that the global diurnal temperature range

(DTR) has decreased as a result of the increase in

daily minimum temperature. DTR provides more in-

formation for climate change research than the mean

temperature [Braganza et al., 2004], and shows a more

direct indicative role for human activity induced cli-

mate change [Wang et al., 2010].

Land use/land cover change (LUCC) is one of the

main anthropogenic factors impacting the global cli-

mate. LUCC influences radiation, momentum, and

the water cycle between the atmosphere and land sur-

face by modifying the physical properties of the land

surface (e.g., albedo and roughness) [Pielke, 2005].

For instance, deforestation can lead to warming in

the tropical regions [Henderson-Sellers et al., 1993],

but cooling in higher latitudes of the Northern Hemi-

sphere [Bonan et al., 1992]. LUCC can also produce

noticeable impacts on regional precipitation and atmo-

spheric general circulation [Fu and Yuan, 2001; Gao et

al., 2007]. It is found that the effect of LUCC on cli-

mate exhibits significant regional differences [Bounoua

Received: 14 May 2013

Corresponding author: CHEN Hai-Shan, haishan@nuist.edu.cn

1

HUA Wen-Jian et al. / Impacts of Regional-Scale Land Use/Land Cover Change on Diurnal Temperature Range 167

et al., 2002]. In addition, LUCC alters the greenhouse

gas emissions (e.g., CO2, N2O, CH4) in the atmo-

sphere, and almost one-third of the CO2 is emitted

due to LUCC in the last 150 years [Houghton, 2003].

Both observational and numerical studies demon-

strated that urbanization, which is a typical type

of LUCC, can produce remarkable impacts on DTR

[Kalnay and Cai, 2003; Zhou et al., 2004]. Fed-

dema et al. [2005] reported a significant effect of fu-

ture LUCC on global DTR. Asymmetric changes be-

tween daily maximum and minimum temperature are

demonstrated to be the direct cause of the change in

DTR. In addition, clouds, soil moisture, precipitation,

and relative humidity can affect daily maximum and

minimum temperature [Dai et al., 1999]. Further stud-

ies concerning the mechanisms of changes in DTR are

still needed. Li et al. [2013] explored the possible in-

fluences of LUCC on the land surface energy balance

and hydrological cycle by using the National Center

of Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Atmo-

sphere Model (CAM4.0). However, the related physi-

cal mechanism was not well explored, and their exper-

imental schemes used a fixed sea surface temperature

(SST), ignoring the possible climate feedbacks of SST.

So far, the mechanisms of DTR changes are still not

well understood. Since there is no systematic inves-

tigation to address the effects of LUCC on DTR, our

study aims to explore the potential impacts of LUCC

on DTR and its related mechanisms based on sensi-

tivity experiments by taking into account the effect of

SST based on CAM4.0.

2 Model description and methodology

The model used in this study is the global at-

mospheric general circulation model of the NCAR

CAM4.0 [Neale et al., 2010]. The finite-volume (FV)

dynamical core was selected, and the model was run

with 1.9◦×2.5◦ horizontal resolution and 26 levels in

vertical direction on a σ-P coordinate. The CAM4.0

can be run together with the land surface model (Com-

munity Land Model Version 4.0, CLM4.0), which can

provide the energy, momentum, and water exchange

between the atmosphere and the land surface [Ole-

son et al., 2010]. CLM4.0 and CAM4.0 are the land

and atmosphere component models of the Commu-

nity Earth system model (CESM), respectively, and

have proven to be effective tools for climate research

[Gent et al., 2011; Lawrence et al., 2011; Lawrence

et al., 2012]. Two sensitivity experiments are con-

ducted, one with current land cover and the other

with potential vegetation cover without human inter-

vention. Ramankutty and Foley [1999] reconstructed

the global and historical change in cropland. Based

on this dataset, NCAR developed the potential natural

vegetation model, which reflects the global vegetation

without significant human activities since 1850. For

the current vegetation experiment, the NCAR CLM4.0

land cover as taken from the MODIS global dataset

was used. Lawrence and Chase [2007] suggested that

the current land cover use in CLM4.0 is basically rea-

sonable and suitable for climate simulation studies.

Figure 1 presents the differences in cropland of cur-

rent minus potential vegetation, implying that global

croplands are increasing in current times. Significant

crop expansions are found in North America, Brazil,

Eurasia, India and China.

Two 30-year integration experiments were per-

formed. The model schemes are the same except for

the land cover setting. The observed monthly SST and

sea ice cover were prescribed for the period 1971–2000

to drive the model. The differences of the two land

cover data (current minus potential vegetation) rep-

resent the impacts of LUCC on vegetation cover due

to human activities. After a spin-up time of 5 years,

the last 25-year model results were used for the anal-

ysis. We employed the student’s t-test to examine the

significance of the differences.

3 Results

The comparison between potential and current

vegetation indicates that the global cropland areas

have increased significantly in the 20th century. Figure

2a shows the spatial distribution of changes in annual

mean surface air temperature due to LUCC. Signif-

icant regional differences are found at low and mid-

latitudes (e.g., eastern North America, Brazil, and

India), where the global mean temperature changes

induced by LUCC are greater than 0.4◦C. However,

168 ADVANCES IN CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH

the temperature responses to LUCC at high latitudes

are relatively weak. The climatic effect of LUCC de-

serves further study, as Hasler et al. [2009] demon-

strated that the deforestation in the tropics can in-

fluence the boreal climate by atmospheric teleconnec-

tions.

Figure 1 Differences in croplands of current minus potential vegetation

Figure 2 Changes in (a) annual mean surface air temperature, and (b) DTR due to LUCC (hollow circles show the

0.05 significant level)

HUA Wen-Jian et al. / Impacts of Regional-Scale Land Use/Land Cover Change on Diurnal Temperature Range 169

LUCC has evidently more influence on DTR than

on mean temperature, which generally results in de-

creased DTR. The areas with significant changes in

DTR are closely related to LUCC (Fig. 2b). Fig-

ure 3a represents the changes in zonal-averaged an-

nual mean surface air temperature and DTR due to

LUCC. Surface air temperature increases at low lati-

tudes, but decreases at mid- and high latitudes, which

is consistent with previous results [Henderson-Sellers

et al., 1993; Bonan et al., 1992]. However, LUCC gen-

erally leads to a decrease of DTR. To illustrate the

changes in DTR associated with LUCC, five typical

sub-regions are selected for further investigation.

LUCC can alter the physical properties of the

surface (e.g., albedo and roughness length) leading

to changes in the energy balance and water cycle of

the land surface as well as the exchange with the

atmosphere. The increase in surface albedo usually

results in a reduction in solar radiation due to ab-

sorption by the land surface, while the decrease in

the surface roughness length leads to the reduction

in evapotranspiration. Figure 3b shows the changes

in zonal-averaged evaporation due to LUCC. Gener-

ally, the changes in canopy transpiration induced by

LUCC are remarkable at low latitudes while ignorable

at high latitudes. LUCC effects in the tropics are dom-

inantly controlled by evapotranspiration rather than

by albedo, while albedo evidently drives the LUCC

influences in boreal regions [Bala et al., 2007; Betts,

2000].

Figure 3 Changes in zonal-averaged (a) annual mean surface air temperature and DTR, and (b) evaporation

due to LUCC

At mid-latitudes, such as in North America,

South America and Eurasia, LUCC increases the

albedo and latent heat fluxes. The changes in latent

heat might increase the cloud cover (Table 1), which

is closely related to daily maximum temperature [Dai

et al., 1999]. As a result, LUCC leads to a decrease

in DTR, resulting mainly from the reduction in daily

maximum temperature. Figure 4 represents the scat-

ter plots of daily minimum and maximum air temper-

ature, and DTR due to LUCC. In East Asia, canopy

evaporation and transpiration vary significantly, and

LUCC decreases the surface latent heat fluxes and

cloud cover (Table 1). Furthermore, LUCC can al-

ter the surface albedo and the surface absorption of

solar radiation, thus influencing the DTR. In general,

the reduction of DTR in East Asia is mainly caused by

the decrease in daily maximum temperature (Fig. 4b).

However in India (Fig. 4c), the decrease in DTR is

mainly due to the increase in daily minimum temper-

ature. Absorption of solar radiation by land surface

increases due to LUCC in India, but decreases over

East Asia. That is because the albedo due to LUCC

Table 1 Changes in climate factors over the sub-regions due to LUCC

Region DTR (◦C) Daily maximum Daily minimum Latent heat Low cloud Absorbed solar

temperature (◦C) temperature (◦C) flux (W m−2) amount (%) radiation (W m−2)

North America –0.27 –0.28 –0.01 0.15 1.56 –1.77

South America –0.43 –0.31 0.12 0.92 4.77 –1.92

Eurasia –0.23 –0.25 –0.02 0.15 1.73 –1.40

India –0.18 0.01 0.18 –0.82 –1.96 0.42

East Asia –0.27 –0.37 –0.10 –0.69 –0.60 –1.20

170 ADVANCES IN CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH

Figure 4 Scatter plots of daily minimum (left) and maximum (middle) air temperature, and DTR (right) due to

LUCC in North America (upper), East Asia (middle), and India (lower)

is changing greatly in India (three times as large as in

East Asia). Feddema et al. [2005] demonstrated that

there is a significant increase in daily minimum tem-

perature in the Amazon, when the areas are converted

from tropical broadleaf ever green forest to agricul-

tural land.

4 Discussion and conclusions

Based on numerical experiments with NCAR

CAM4.0, potential impacts of LUCC on DTR are in-

vestigated in this study. Results show that changes

from potential vegetation to current land use yield ev-

ident effects on DTR. In the mid-latitudes (e.g., North

America, South America and Eurasia), the decreases

in DTR are mainly caused by decreasing in daily max-

imum temperature, which is closely related to LUCC

through enhancing the latent heat fluxes, and thus the

cloud cover increased. In East Asia and India, how-

ever, the impacts of canopy evaporation and transpi-

ration induce both the latent heat and cloud cover to

be lower. The reasons for the decreasing in DTR in

East Asia are the reduction of daily maximum temper-

ature, while in India it mainly depends on the increases

in daily minimum temperature with the influences of

changes in evaporation and surface albedo. The diff-

HUA Wen-Jian et al. / Impacts of Regional-Scale Land Use/Land Cover Change on Diurnal Temperature Range 171

erences between the DTR responses to LUCC in low

and mid-latitudes. The greater changes in albedo

in East Asia (three times as that in India) and the

stronger effects of canopy evaporation and transpira-

tion in India (twice as high as that in East Asia) may

be the major causes. Generally, LUCC in East Asia

reduces the gain of solar radiation followed by a de-

crease in daily maximum temperature, whereas the

significant decrease in evapotranspiration is responsi-

ble for the increase in daily minimum temperature.

Dai et al. [1999] found that LUCC can affect the

DTR through evapotranspiration. The results of this

study indicate that the effects of LUCC are highly

regionalized phenomenon, which can further reveal

the physical mechanisms. Additionally, Pitman et al.

[2011] demonstrated that the climate background is

also important for determining the climatic responses

of LUCC. For example, the variations in snow and pre-

cipitation pattern can change the surface albedo and

the hydrological cycle, which dominates the regional

climate effects of LUCC. The incorporation of current

climate characteristics (e.g., solar radiation and other

natural forcing) may introduce some uncertainties in

the conclusions. Hua and Chen [2013] also pointed out

that the climate characteristics seem to play an impor-

tant role on the regional impact of LUCC, especially

at high latitudes. In this study, we only investigated

the possible causes of DTR change induced by LUCC

from aspects of solar radiation, cloud cover, and evapo-

ration. However, aerosol also plays an important role

on DTR. Thus, various factors should be considered

in future research to better understand the impacts of

LUCC on DTR.

Acknowledgements

This work was jointly supported by the National Ba-

sic Research Program of China (No. 2011CB952000) and

through a project funded by the Priority Academic Pro-

gram Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institu-

tions (PAPD).

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