Does Anthropogenic Land Use Change Play a Role in Changes of Precipitation Frequency and Intensity over the Loess Plateau of China?

Abstract

Human transformation of landscapes is pervasive and accelerating across the Earth. However, existing studies have not provided a comprehensive picture of how precipitation frequency and intensity respond to vegetation cover change. Therefore, this study took the Loess Plateau as a typical example, and used satellite-based Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data and daily gridded climatic variables to assess the responses of precipitation dynamics to human-induced vegetation cover change. Results showed that the total precipitation amount exhibited little change at the regional scale, showing an upward but statistically insignificant (p > 0.05) trend of 7.6 mm/decade in the period 1982–2015. However, the frequency of precipitation with different intensities showed large variations over most of the Loess Plateau. The number of rainy days (light, moderate, heavy, very heavy and severe precipitation) increased in response to increased vegetation cover, especially in the central-eastern Loess Plateau. Anthropogenic land cover change is largely responsible for precipitation intensity changes. Additionally, this study also observed high spatially explicit heterogeneity in different precipitation intensities in response to vegetation cover change across the Loess Plateau. These findings provide some reference information for our understanding of precipitation frequency and intensity changes in response to regional vegetation cover change in the Loess Plateau.

Impacts of land use change on thermodynamic and dynamic changes of precipitation for the Yangtze River Basin, China

“…It may because the increased precipitation from reforestation is offset by enhanced evapotranspiration (Li et al ., 2018). In addition, the results also show that the precipitation frequency can be altered by LUC (Liu and Liu, 2018), which may due to the regulation of regional hydrological cycle (Fu et al ., 2017; Li et al ., 2018).…”

Vegetation change in response to climate factors and human activities on the Mongolian Plateau

“…We first defined the residual as the difference between the satellite-derived NDVI and the predicted NDVI (Evans & Geerken, 2004; Zhou, Yamaguchi & Arjasakusuma, 2017). The equation is shown as follows (Liu & Liu, 2018). where NDVIr is NDVI residuals; NDVIs is satellite-derived NDVI; and NDVIc is predicted NDVI values based on precipitation and temperature, which is calculated using the following formula (Liu & Liu, 2018; Li, Liu & Fu, 2011).…”

“…The equation is shown as follows (Liu & Liu, 2018). where NDVIr is NDVI residuals; NDVIs is satellite-derived NDVI; and NDVIc is predicted NDVI values based on precipitation and temperature, which is calculated using the following formula (Liu & Liu, 2018; Li, Liu & Fu, 2011). where a 1 and a 2 are the regression coefficients; and tmp , pre are the average temperature and precipitation for growing season from 1982–2015.…”

Impacts of climate change versus land use change on recent Lijiang River flood regime, South China

“…Land-use change causes (Cao et al, 2017) and impacts (Liu & Liu, 2018) have been studied in many areas of the country recently; however, less research has been conducted in the Lijiang river basin (Guilin). Most Lijiang River researches have focused on runoff quantity (Jiangxuan & Junfeng, 2018), quality (Jianhui, Jian, Rui, & Yuan-Yuan, 2018), ecological and habitats (Li et al, 2015), as well as meteorological measurements (Junfeng, Huan, Xin, Rong-Jie, & Xin-Jian, 2011) while the interplay of human activity and flood regimes in this area are poorly understood.…”