A41R-03
Impact of land use and land cover change on climate and air quality in the CESM
Thursday, 17 December 2015: 08:30
3008 (Moscone West)
Natalie M Mahowald1, Daniel S Ward1, Silvia Kloster2, James Tremper Randerson3, Scott C Doney4, Keith T Lindsay5, Ernesto Munoz5, Sarah Schlunegger6, Danica Lombardozzi7, David M Lawrence7, Peter Lawrence7 and Forrest M. Hoffman3, (1)Cornell University, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Ithaca, NY, United States, (2)Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany, (3)University of California Irvine, Department of Earth System Science, Irvine, CA, United States, (4)Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst, Woods Hole, MA, United States, (5)National Center for Atmospheric Research, Climate & Global Dynamics Division, Boulder, CO, United States, (6)Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States, (7)National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, United States
Abstract:
Land use and land cover change (LULCC) impacts climate by directly emiting CO2 as well as modifying indirect CO2 sinks in the future. LULCC also modifies aerosol and reactive gas emissions, modifying ozone and methane lifetimes, as well as directly emitting methane and nitrous oxide. Finally, LULCC modifies land albedos. Here we consider multiple land use scenarios within the context of the CESM, and the net impact of LULCC on climate and compare to other anthropogenic forcings. These comparisons suggest that LULCC contributes 40% to climate change today, and out to 2100. The contribution from LULCC varies strongly by country and when the land use conversion occurs.
