B31A-0527
Characterizing Land-cover Changes Since 1650 in the Southeastern United States for Application to Regional Climate Modeling

Wednesday, 16 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Ryan R Reker1, Thomas R Loveland2, Christopher E Bernhardt3, Steven W Hostetler4, Eric T Sundquist5, Robert S Thompson3 and Debra A Willard3, (1)USGS EROS Center, Sioux Falls, SD, United States, (2)USGS EROS Data Ctr, Sioux Falls, SD, United States, (3)USGS, Baltimore, MD, United States, (4)Oregon State University, US Geological Survey, College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Corvallis, OR, United States, (5)USGS, Woods Hole, MA, United States
Abstract:
Land-cover change is a fundamental contributor to changes in climate, hydrology, and carbon cycling. European settlers introduced a series of widespread land-cover changes in eastern North America beginning in the early 17th century. These changes varied both temporally and spatially, and were related to population growth, emerging technology, and land-use. To examine the potential influence of historical land-cover changes on local to regional climate, we adapted reconstructed fractional land cover from 1650, 1850, and 1920 as well as land cover interpreted from Landsat imagery circa 1992 (Steyaert and Knox, 2008) as input for regional climate model experiments. Observed changes included: deforestation and conversion to agriculture in the mid-Atlantic region from 1650 to 1850, region-wide expansion of agriculture from 1850 to 1920, and wetland drainage, reforestation, and increased urbanization from 1920 to 1992.

We translated the land cover datasets to the BATS (Biosphere-Atmosphere Transfer Scheme) thematic classification on a 20 km2 grid for ingestion into the RegCM4 regional climate model. In BATS, land-cover classifications determine biophysical parameters such as the seasonal albedo cycle, fractional vegetation condition, stomatal resistance, leaf area index (LAI), and rooting depth. By defining and characterizing land cover in a consistent manner across the four time slices, we are able to explore interactions and feedbacks between land cover and regional climate in late prehistoric and historic times.

Steyaert, L. T., & Knox, R. G. (2008). Reconstructed historical land cover and biophysical parameters for studies of land‐atmosphere interactions within the eastern United States. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 113(D2).

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