Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of land use and cover change on surface wind speed in China

  • Published:
Journal of Arid Land Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The surface wind speed (SWS) is affected by both large-scale circulation and land use and cover change (LUCC). In China, most studies have considered the effect of large-scale circulation rather than LUCC on SWS. In this study, we evaluated the effects of LUCC on the SWS decrease during 1979–2015 over China using the observation minus reanalysis (OMR) method. There were two key findings: (1) Observed wind speed declined significantly at a rate of 0.0112 m/(s·a), whereas ERA-Interim, which can only capture the inter-annual variation of observed data, indicated a gentle downward trend. The effects of LUCC on SWS were distinct and caused a decrease of 0.0124 m/(s·a) in SWS; (2) Due to variations in the characteristics of land use types across different regions, the influence of LUCC on SWS also varied. The observed wind speed showed a rapid decline over cultivated land in Northwest China, as well as a decrease in China’s northeastern and eastern plain regions due to the urbanization. However, in the Tibetan Plateau, the impact of LUCC on wind speed was only slight and can thus be ignored.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Azorin-Molina C, Vicente-Serrano S M, McVicar T R, et al. 2014. Homogenization and assessment of observed near-surface wind speed trends over Spain and Portugal, 1961–2011. Journal of Climate, 27(10): 3692–3712.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berrisford P, Kållberg P, Kobayashi S, et al. 2011. Atmospheric conservation properties in ERA-Interim. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 137(659): 1381–1399.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brázdil R, Chromá K, Dobrovolný P, et al. 2009. Climate fluctuations in the Czech Republic during the period 1961–2005. International Journal of Climatology, 29(2): 223–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dadaser-Celik F, Cengiz E. 2014. Wind speed trends over Turkey from 1975 to 2006. International Journal of Climatology, 34(6): 1913–1927.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dee D P, Uppala S M, Simmons A J, et al. 2011. The ERA-Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data assimilation system. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 137(656): 553–597.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fu G, Yu J, Zhang Y, et al. 2010. Temporal variation of wind speed in China for 1961–2007. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 104(3–4): 313–324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo H, Xu M, Hu Q. 2011. Changes in near-surface wind speed in China: 1969–2005. International Journal of Climatology, 31(3): 349–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han S J, Tang Q H, Zhang X Z, et al. 2016. Surface wind observations affected by agricultural development over Northwest China. Environmental Research Letters, 11(5): 054014.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang Y, Luo Y, Zhao Z C, et al. 2009. Changes in wind speed over China during 1956–2004. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 99(3–4): 421–430.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser-Weiss A K, Kaspar F, Heene V, et al. 2015. Comparison of regional and global reanalysis near-surface winds with station observations over Germany. Advances in Science and Research, 12(1): 187–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalnay E, Cai M. 2003. Impact of urbanization and land-use change on climate. Nature, 423(6939): 528–531.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim J, Paik K. 2015. Recent recovery of surface wind speed after decadal decrease: a focus on South Korea. Climate Dynamics, 45(5–6): 1699–1712.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Y, Wang Y, Chu H Y, et al. 2008. The climate influence of anthropogenic land-use changes on near-surface wind energy potential in China. Chinese Science Bulletin, 53(18): 2859–2866.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li Z, Yan Z W, Tu K, et al. 2011. Changes in wind speed and extremes in Beijing during 1960–2008 based on homogenized observations. Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, 28(2): 408–420.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Z, Song L, Ma H, et al. 2017. Observed surface wind speed declining induced by urbanization in East China. Climate Dynamics, 50(3–4): 735–749.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin C G, Yang K, Qin J, et al. 2013. Observed coherent trends of surface and upper-air wind speed over China since 1960. Journal of Climate, 26(9): 2891–2903.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu J, Zhang Z X, Zhuang D F, et al. 2003. A study on the spatial-temporal dynamic changes of land-useand driving forces analyses of China in the 1990s. Geographical Research, 22(1): 1–12. (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu J, Kuang W H, Zhang Z X, et al. 2014. Spatiotemporal characteristics, patterns, and causes of land-use changes in China since the late 1980s. Acta Geographica Sinica, 69(1): 3–14. (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ma J, Foltz G R, Soden B J, et al. 2016. Will surface winds weaken in response to global warming? Environmental Research Letters, 11(12): 124012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McVicar T R, Van Niel T G, Li L T, et al. 2008. Wind speed climatology and trends for Australia, 1975–2006: Capturing the stilling phenomenon and comparison with near-surface reanalysis output. Geophysical Research Letters, 35(20): L20403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McVicar T R, Roderick M L, Donohue R J, et al. 2012. Global review and synthesis of trends in observed terrestrial near-surface wind speeds: Implications for evaporation. Journal of Hydrology, 416–417: 182–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ozdogan M, Salvucci G D, Anderson B T, et al. 2004. Examination of the Bouchet-Morton complementary relationship using a Mesoscale climate model and observations under a progressive irrigation scenario. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 7(2): 235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pineda-Martinez L F, Carbajal N, Campos-Ramos A A, et al. 2011. Numerical research of extreme wind-induced dust transport in a semi-arid human-impacted region of Mexico. Atmospheric Environment, 45(27): 4652–4660.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roderick M L, Rotstayn L D, Farquhar G D, et al. 2007. On the attribution of changing pan evaporation. Geophysical Research Letters, 34(17): L17403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pryor S C, Schoof J T, Barthelmie R J, et al. 2006. Winds of change?: Projections of near-surface winds under climate change scenarios. Geophysical Research Letters, 33(11): L11702.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pryor S C, Barthelmie R J, Young D T, et al. 2009. Wind speed trends over the contiguous United States. Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres, 114(D14): D14105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Troccoli A, Muller K, Coppin P, et al. 2012. Long-term wind speed trends over Australia. Journal of Climate, 25(1): 170–183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tucker C J, Pinzon J E, Brown M E, et al. 2005. An extended AVHRR 8-km NDVI dataset compatible with MODIS and SPOT vegetation NDVI data. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 26(20): 4485–5598.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tuller S E. 2004. Measured wind speed trends on the west coast of Canada. International Journal of Climatology, 24(11): 1359–1374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vautard R, Cattiaux J, Yiou P, et al. 2010. Northern Hemisphere atmospheric stilling partly attributed to an increase in surface roughness. Nature Geoscience, 3(11): 756–761.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Viles H A, Goudie A S. 2003. Interannual, decadal and multidecadal scale climatic variability and geomorphology. Earth-Science Reviews, 61(1–2): 105–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weber R O, Furger M. 2001. Climatology of near-surface wind patterns over Switzerland. International Journal of Climatology, 21(7): 809–827.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wever N. 2012. Quantifying trends in surface roughness and the effect on surface wind speed observations. Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres, 117(D11): 11104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu J, Zha J L, Zhao D M. 2016. Estimating the impact of the changes in land use and cover on the surface wind speed over the East China Plain during the period 1980–2011. Climate Dynamics, 46(3–4): 847–863.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu J, Zha J L, Zhao D M. 2017. Evaluating the effects of land use and cover change on the decrease of surface wind speed over China in recent 30 years using a statistical downscaling method. Climate Dynamics, 48(1–2): 131–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xia C L, Song Z F. 2009. Wind energy in China: Current scenario and future perspectives. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 13(8): 1966–1974.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu M, Chang C P, Fu C B, et al. 2006. Steady decline of east Asian monsoon winds, 1969–2000: Evidence from direct ground measurements of wind speed. Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres, 111(D24): D24111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang X M, Li Z X, Feng Q, et al. 2012. The decreasing wind speed in southwestern China during 1969–2009, and possible causes. Quaternary International, 263: 71–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • You Q L, Fraedrich K, Min J Z, et al. 2014. Observed surface wind speed in the Tibetan Plateau since 1980 and its physical causes. International Journal of Climatology, 34(6): 1873–1882.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu L J, Zhong S Y, Bian X D. 2015. Temporal and spatial variability of wind resources in the United States as derived from the climate forecast system reanalysis. Journal of Climate, 28(3): 1166–1183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zha J L, Wu J, Zhao D M. 2016a. Effects of land use and cover change on the near-surface wind speed over China in the last 30 years. Progress in Physical Geography, 41(1): 46–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zha J L, Wu J, Zhao D M. 2016b. Changes of probabilities in different wind grades induced by land use and cover change in Eastern China Plain during 1980–2011. Atmospheric Science Letters, 17(4): 264–269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang N, Gao Z Q, Wang X M, et al. 2010. Modeling the impact of urbanization on the local and regional climate in Yangtze River Delta, China. Theoretical and applied climatology, 102(3–4): 331–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng X, Zhu J J, Yan Y. 2013. Estimation of farmland shelterbelt area in the Three-North Shelter/Protective Forest Program regions of China based on multi-scale remote sensing data. Chinese Journal of Ecology, 32(5): 1355–1363.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The research was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA19030204) and the CAS “Light of West China” Program (2015-XBQNB-17).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, China

    Yupeng Li, Yaning Chen & Zhi Li

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Yupeng Li

Authors
  1. Yupeng Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yaning Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Zhi Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yaning Chen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Li, Y., Chen, Y. & Li, Z. Effects of land use and cover change on surface wind speed in China. J. Arid Land 11, 345–356 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-019-0095-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-019-0095-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation