Land use/land cover changes and climate: modeling analysis and observational evidence

Agreat deal of attention is devoted to changes in atmospheric composition and the associated regional responses. Less attention is given to the direct influence by human activity on regional climate caused by modification of the atmosphere’s lower boundary—the Earth’s surface. Land use/land cover change (LULCC), as discussed in this article, concerns human-caused changes that affect the biophysics, biogeochemistry, and biogeography of the terrestrial surface and its affect on the atmosphere.1–3 Vast areas of the Earth’s terrestrial surface have undergone LULCC.4,5 LULCC effects on climate include direct alterations in surface solar and longwave radiation and in atmospheric turbulence which result in changes