Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Improved monitoring of urbanization processes in China for regional climate impact assessment

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Environmental Earth Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Regional climate is influenced by land surface processes through energy exchange between land and atmosphere at various scales. The performance of climate model simulation is largely influenced by land cover parameterization, especially over areas that experience rapid change of land surface characterization. Accurate land cover datasets suited for climate modeling are urgently needed to improve model parameterization for better simulation. In this study, fused urban land cover datasets have been developed by combining multi-source urban land cover products based on cross-comparison and detailed validation from medium resolution images during recent decades. Fractional cover values at different spatial scales were aggregated from integrated land cover datasets to derive improved estimates of the urban extent of big cities in China. Urbanization in China as captured by the new dataset can be divided into steadily and rapidly increasing periods with the urban area increasing by 2.5 and 6.7 % per year, respectively. Rapid urbanization mostly happens in the urban fringe, especially in eastern China, with mass conversion of cropland and woodland to urban land. An improvement in climate model simulation could be achieved using the fused data applied in climate modeling for examining the impact of rapid urbanization on the regional climate.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akiwowo A, Eftekhari M (2013) Feature-based detection using Bayesian data fusion. Int J Image Data Fusion 4:308–323

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arunprakash M, Giridharan L, Krishnamurthy RR, Jayaprakash M (2014) Impact of urbanization in groundwater of south Chennai city, Tamil Nadu, India. Environ Earth Sci 71:947–957

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartholomé E, Belward AS (2005) GLC2000: a new approach to global land cover mapping from earth observation data. Int J Remote Sens 26:1959–1977

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brook A, Ben-Dor E, Richter R (2011) Modelling and monitoring urban built environment via multi-source integrated and fused remote sensing data. Int J Image Data Fusion 4:2–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bukovsky MS, Karoly DJ (2009) Precipitation simulations using WRF as a nested regional climate model. J Appl Meteorol Climatol 48:2152–2159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheon J-Y, Ham B-S, Lee J-Y, Park Y, Lee K-K (2014) Soil temperatures in four metropolitan cities of Korea from 1960 to 2010: implications for climate change and urban heat. Environ Earth Sci 71:5215–5230

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choi H (2013) Parameterization of high resolution vegetation characteristics using remote sensing products for the Nakdong River Watershed, Korea. Remote Sens 5:473–490

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clapham WB Jr (2003) Continuum-based classification of remotely sensed imagery to describe urban sprawl on a watershed scale. Remote Sens of Environ 86:322–340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crutzen P (2004) New directions: the growing urban heat and pollution ‘island’ effect-impact on chemistry and climate. Atmos Environ 38:3539–3540

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dahiya S, Garg PK, Jat MK (2013) A comparative study of various pixel-based image fusion techniques as applied to an urban environment. Int J Image Data Fusion 4:197–213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Danko DM (1991) The digital chart of the world project. In: Proceedings ACSM-ASPRS annual convention, Baltimore 2, pp 83–93

  • Dickinson RE, Henderson-Sellers A, Kennedy PJ (1993) Biosphere–atmosphere transfer scheme (BATS) Version 1e as coupled to the NCAR Community climate model. Technical note 198. NCAR. http://opensky.library.ucar.edu/collections/TECH-NOTE-000-000-000-198. Accessed 03 Aug 2014

  • Dong SC, Samsonov S, Yin HW, Ye SJ, Cao YR (2014) Time-series analysis of subsidence associated with rapid urbanization in Shanghai, China measured with SBAS InSAR method. Environ Earth Sci 72:677–691

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dudhia J, Gill D, Manning K, Wang W, Bruyere C (2005) PSU/NCAR mesoscale modeling. System tutorial class notes and user’s guide—MM5 modeling system version 3. http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/mm5/documents/. Accessed 03 Aug 2014

  • Eva HD, Belward AS, De Miranda EE et al (2004) A land cover map of South America. Glob Change Biol 10:731–744

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ezber Y, Lutfi Sen O, Kindap T, Karaca M (2007) Climatic effects of urbanization in Istanbul: a statistical and modeling analysis. Int J Climatol 27:667–679

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feddema JJ, Oleson KW, Bonan GB, Mearns LO, Buja LE, Meehl GA, Washington WM (2005) The importance of land-cover change in simulating future climates. Sci. 310:1674–1678

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedl MA, McIver DK, Hodges JCF et al (2002) Global land cover mapping from MODIS: algorithms and early results. Remote Sens Environ 83:287–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedl MA, Sulla-Menashe D, Tan B, Schneider A, Ramankutty N, Sibley A, Huang X (2010) MODIS Collection 5 global land cover: algorithm refinements and characterization of new datasets. Remote Sens of Environ 114:168–182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gao H, Jia G (2013) Assessing disagreement and tolerance of misclassification of satellite-derived land cover products used in WRF model applications. Adv Atmos Sci 30:125–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbard S, Caldeira K, Bala G, Phillips TJ, Wicket M (2005) Climate effects of global land cover change. Geophy Res Lett 32:1–4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grawe D, Thompson HL, Salmond JA, Cai X-M, Schlünzen KH (2013) Modelling the impact of urbanisation on regional climate in the Greater London area. Int J Climatol 33:2388–2401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grossman-Clarke S, Zehnder JA, Stefanov WL, Liu Y, Zoldak MA (2005) Urban modifications in a mesoscale meteorological model and the effects on near-surface variables in an arid metropolitan region. J Appl Meteorol 44:1281–1297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo Y-R, Chen S (1994) Terrain and land use for the fifth-generation Penn State/NCAR Mesoscale Modeling System (MM5): Program TERRAIN. Technical Note 213, NCAR. http://opensky.library.ucar.edu/collections/TECH-NOTE-000-000-000-213. Accessed 03 Aug 2014

  • Hagemann S, Botzet M, Duemenil L, Machenhauer B (1999) Derivation of global GCM boundary conditions from 1 km land use satellite data. MPI Report No. 289. Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. http://www.mpimet.mpg.de/fileadmin/publikationen/Reports/max_scirep_289.pdf. Accessed 03 Aug 2014

  • Hansen MC, Reed B (2000) A comparison of the IGBP DISCover and University of Maryland 1 km global land cover products. Int J Remote Sens 21:1365–1373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen MC, Defries RS, Townshend JRG, Sohlberg R (2000) Global land cover classification at 1 km spatial resolution using a classification tree approach. Int J Remote Sens 21:1331–1364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henderson M, Yeh ET, Gong P, Elvidge C, Baugh K (2003) Validation of urban boundaries derived from global night-time satellite imagery. Int J Remote Sens 24:595–610

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hou MT, Hu YH, He YT (2014) Modifications in vegetation cover and surface albedo during rapid urbanization: a case study from South China. Environ Earth Sci 72:1659–1666

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Im ES, Coppola E, Giorgi F, Bi X (2009) Validation of a high-resolution regional climate model for the Alpine region and effects of a subgrid-scale topography and land use representation. J Clim 23:1854–1873

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan AS, Khan SD, Kakar DM (2013) Land subsidence and declining water resources in Quetta Valley, Pakistan. Environ Earth Sci 70:2719–2727

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kusaka H, Kimura F (2004) Coupling a single-layer urban canopy model with a simple atmospheric model: impact on urban heat island simulation for an idealized case. J Meteorol Soc Jpn Ser. II 82:67–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamptey BL, Barron EJ, Pollard D (2005) Impacts of agriculture and urbanization on the climate of the Northeastern United States. Glob Planet Change 49:203–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu J, Liu M, Tian H, Zhuang D, Zhang Z, Zhang W, Tang X, Deng X (2005) Spatial and temporal patterns of China’s cropland during 1990–2000: an analysis based on Landsat TM data. Remote Sens Environ 98:442–456

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loveland TR, Reed BC, Brown JF, Ohlen DO, Zhu Z, Yang L, Merchant JW (2000) Development of a global land cover characteristics database and IGBP DISCover from 1 km AVHRR data. Int J Remote Sens 21:1303–1330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu X, Chow K-C, Yao T, Lau AKH, Fung JCH (2010) Effects of urbanization on the land sea breeze circulation over the Pearl River Delta region in winter. Int J Climatol 30:1089–1104

    Google Scholar 

  • Masson V (2006) Urban surface modeling and the meso-scale impact of cities. Theor Appl Climatol 84:35–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nepstad DC, Stickler CM, Filho BS, Merry F (2008) Interactions among Amazon land use, forests and climate: prospects for a near-term forest tipping point. Philos Trans R Soc B: Biol Sci 363:1737–1746

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nobre CA, Sellers PJ, Shukla J (1991) Amazonian deforestation and regional climate change. J Clim 4:957–988

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oleson KW, Bonan GB, Feddema J, Vertenstein M, Grimmond CSB (2008) An urban parameterization for a global climate model. Part I: formulation and evaluation for two cities. J Appl Meteorol Climatol 47:1038–1060

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pielke RA (2005) Land use and climate change. Sci 310:1625–1626

    Google Scholar 

  • Pielke RA, Pitman A, Niyogi D et al (2011) Land use/land cover changes and climate: modeling analysis and observational evidence. Wiley Interdis Rev: Clima Change 2:828–850

    Google Scholar 

  • Pitman AJ, De Noblet-Ducoudré N, Cruz FT et al (2009) Uncertainties in climate responses to past land cover change: first results from the LUCID intercomparison study. Geophys Res Lett 36:L14814. doi:10.1029/2009GL039076

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pitman AJ, Avila FB, Abramowitz G, Wang YP, Phipps SJ, De Noblet-Ducoudre N (2011) Importance of background climate in determining impact of land-cover change on regional climate. Nat Clim Change 1:472–475

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pohl C, Van Genderen J (2013) Remote sensing image fusion: an update in the context of Digital Earth. Int J Digital Earth 7:158–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Python (2014) Open source programming language. http://www.python.org. Accessed 03 Aug 2014

  • Ren G, Zhou Y, Chu Z, Zhou J, Zhang A, Guo J, Liu X (2008) Urbanization effects on observed surface air temperature trends in North China. J Clim 21:1333–1348

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider A, Friedl MA, Potere D (2009) A new map of global urban extent from MODIS satellite data. Environ Res Lett 4:1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sellers PJ, Mintz Y, Sud YC, Dalcher A, Simple A (1986) Biosphere model (SIB) for use within general circulation models. J Atmos Sci 43:505–531

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seto KC, Reenberg A, Boone CG et al (2012) Urban land teleconnections and sustainability. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109:7687–7692

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shao H, Song J, Ma H (2013) Sensitivity of the East Asian summer monsoon circulation and precipitation to an idealized large-scale urban expansion. J Meteorol Soc Jpn 9:163–177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skamarock WC, Klemp JB, Dudhia J et al (2008) A description of the advanced research WRF Version 3. NCAR Technical Note 475, National Centre for Atmospheric Research, Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Division, Boulda, Colorado, USA. http://www2.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users/docs/arw_v3.pdf. Accessed 03 Aug 2014

  • Small C, Elvidge CD, Balk D, Montgomery M (2011) Spatial scaling of stable night lights. Remote Sens Environ 115:269–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strahler A, Muchoney D, Borak J, Friedl M, Gopal S, Lambin E, Moody A (1999) MODIS Land Cover Product Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD) Version 5.0. Center for Remote Sensing. Boston University, Boston MA, USA. http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/atbd/atbd_mod12.pdf. Accessed 03 Aug 2014

  • Wade TG, Wickham JD, Zacarelli N, Riitters KH (2009) A multi-scale method of mapping urban influence. Environ Model Softw 24:1252–1256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang G, Shen Y, Zhang J, Wang S, Mao W (2010) The effects of human activities on oasis climate and hydrologic environment in the Aksu River Basin, Xinjiang, China. Environ Earth Sci 59:1759–1769

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang J, Feng J, Yan Z, Hu Y, Jia G (2012) Nested high-resolution modeling of the impact of urbanization on regional climate in three vast urban agglomerations in China. J Geophys Res: Atmos 117:D21103

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang J (2010) Multi-source remote sensing data fusion: status and trends. Int J Image and Data Fusion 1:5–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Q, Seto KC (2011) Mapping urbanization dynamics at regional and global scales using multi-temporal DMSP/OLS nighttime light data. Remote Sens Environ 115:2320–2329

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang D-L, Shou Y-X, Dickerson RR (2009) Upstream urbanization exacerbates urban heat island effects. Geophys Res Lett 36:L24401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang N, Gao Z, Wang X, Chen Y (2010) Modeling the impact of urbanization on the local and regional climate in Yangtze River Delta, China. Theor Appl Climatol 102:331–342

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by CAS Strategic Priority Research Program (XDA05090200) and the National Basic Research Program of China (2009 CB723904). We thank Dr. Deming Zhao, Dr. Liang Chen, and Mr. Jun Wang for their comments during the application tests for the climate models.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100094, China

    Yonghong Hu & Qiang Feng

  2. Key Laboratory of Regional Climate-Environment for East Asia, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Gensuo Jia, Yuting He, Ronghan Xu & Jinming Feng

  3. Institute of Geospatial Science and Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

    Christine Pohl

  4. National Satellite Meteorological Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing, 100081, China

    Hao Gao

  5. Geospatial Information Science Research Centre, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Malaysia

    John van Genderen

Authors
  1. Yonghong Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gensuo Jia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Christine Pohl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Qiang Feng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Yuting He
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Hao Gao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Ronghan Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. John van Genderen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Jinming Feng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christine Pohl.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hu, Y., Jia, G., Pohl, C. et al. Improved monitoring of urbanization processes in China for regional climate impact assessment. Environ Earth Sci 73, 8387–8404 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-4000-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-4000-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation