Land cover change - To what degree do human land cover dynamics affect climate change? [Present]

Potential climate forcing of land use and land cover change

Pressure on land resources is expected to increase as global population continues to climb and the world becomes more affluent, swelling the demand for food. Changing climate may exert additional pressures on natural lands as present-day productive regions may shift, or soil quality may degrade, and the recent rise in demand for biofuels increases competition with edible crops for arable land. ...

Impact of urban land cover change on land surface temperature

The rapid growth in urban population is seen to create a need for the development of more urban infrastructures. In order to meet this need, natural surfaces such as vegetation are been replaced with non-vegetated surfaces such as asphalt and bricks which has the ability to absorb heat and release it later. This change in land cover is seen to increase the land surface temperature. Previous stu...

Modeling Land-use and Land-cover Change

Models are used in a variety of fields, including land change science, to better understand the dynamics of systems, to develop hypotheses that can be tested empirically, and to make predictions and/or evaluate scenarios for use in assessment activities. Modeling is an important component of each of the three foci outlined in the science plan of the Land-use and -cover change (LUCC) project (Tu...

MODIS Enhanced Land Cover and Land Cover Change Product Algorithm Theoretical Basis Documents (ATBD) Version 2.0 MODIS Enhanced Land Cover and Land Cover Change Principal Investigator:

Radiative forcing of climate by historical land cover change

[1] The radiative effect of changing human land-use patterns on the climate of the past 300 years is discussed through analysis of a series of equilibrium and transient climate simulations using the UVic Earth System Climate Model. Land-surface changes are prescribed through varying land cover type, representing the replacement of natural vegetation by human agricultural systems from 1700 to 19...