Abstract
This study evaluates the impacts of land cover changes on regional summer climate of North- Rhine-Westfalia (NRW), Germany, by performing simulations with a non-hydrostatic numerical weather forecast model. Land cover statistics for 1981, 1988, 1997; a prognosticated land cover for 2015; and a scenario assuming complete forest cover as the natural state of the region are used to derive land surface parameters as model inputs for a three day case study under summer conditions with high incoming radiation.
Official land use data show that urban area extended by 15% between 1981 and 1997 at the cost of agriculturally used land. Model simulations indicate that land cover changes between 1981 and 1997 caused an average surface warming of 0.05 K over NRW under the atmospheric conditions considered. Convective rainfall was 16% lower in 1997 compared to the natural situation and decreased slightly between 1981 and 2015. Further case studies and independent data (e.g. from remote sensing systems) are needed for a more extended assessment of land use change and climatic response in NRW.
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Keller, T. (2001). Land Cover Changes over North-Rhine-Westfalia (Germany) and their Impact on Regional Climate. In: India, M.B., Bonillo, D.L. (eds) Detecting and Modelling Regional Climate Change. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04313-4_53
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04313-4_53
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