Reviews and syntheses: influences of landscape structure and land uses on local to regional climate and air quality

Abstract

Abstract. The atmosphere and the land surface interact in multiple ways, for instance through the radiative-energy balance, the water cycle or the emission and deposition of natural and anthropogenic compounds. By modifying the land surface, land use and land cover changes (LULCCs) and land management changes (LMCs) alter the physical, chemical, and biological processes of the biosphere and therefore all land–atmosphere interactions, from local to global scales. Through socio-economic drivers and regulatory policies adopted at different levels (local, regional, national, or supranational), human activities strongly interfere in the land–atmosphere interactions, and those activities lead to a patchwork of natural, semi-natural, agricultural, urban, and semi-urban areas. In this context, urban and peri-urban areas, which have a high population density, are of particular attention since land transformation can lead to important environmental impacts and affect the health and life of millions of people. The objectives of this review are to synthesize the existing experimental and modelling works that investigate physical, chemical, and/or biogeochemical interactions between land surfaces and the atmosphere, therefore potentially impacting local/regional climate and air quality, mainly in urban or peri-urban landscapes at regional and local scales. The conclusions we draw from our synthesis are the following. (1) The adequate temporal and spatial description of land use and land management practices (e.g. areas concerned, type of crops, whether or not they are irrigated, quantity of fertilizers used and actual seasonality of application) necessary for including the effects of LMC in global and even more in regional climate models is inexistent (or very poor). Not taking into account these characteristics may bias the regional projections used for impact studies. (2) Land–atmosphere interactions are often specific to the case study analysed; therefore, one can hardly propose general solutions or recommendations. (3) Adaptation strategies, proposed after climatic impacts on the targeted resource have been derived, are often biased as they do not account for feedbacks on local/regional climate. (4) There is space for considering atmospheric chemistry, through land–atmosphere interactions, as a factor for land management, helping to maintain air quality and supporting ecosystem functioning. (5) There is a lack of an integrated tool, which includes the many different processes of importance in an operational model, to test different land use or land management scenarios at the scale of a territory.

Urban Heat Island and Its Regional Impacts Using Remotely Sensed Thermal Data—A Review of Recent Developments and Methodology

“…Moreover, the nature of urban development has been changing from a single city model to a group of cities (urban agglomeration) worldwide. Urban heat island (UHI), urbanization, and climate change are increasingly interconnected, resulting in several environmental consequences (such as heat stress, biodiversity loss, fire risk, warming water due to run off, and diminished air quality) at both local and regional levels [2,[6][7][8][9]. Such UHI related impacts are also called UHI regional impacts (UHIRIP).…”

The role of land use and land cover change in climate change vulnerability assessments of biodiversity: a systematic review

“…Land use type affects albedo and sensible and latent heat fluxes, which in turn could alter land cover or use. Despite advances, not all relevant feedbacks between LULCC and CC have been incorporated into regional and global circulation models, as for example effects of deforestation and fire on water cycling and changes in temperature and albedo, effects of wetland removal on evapotranspiration and cooling, or effects of agricultural irrigation or urbanization on changes in albedo and cooling (Massad et al 2018). At the global scale, integrated assessment models have been used to model development scenarios and simulate future LULCC (Doelman et al 2018).…”

From inert matter to the global society life as multi-level networks of processes

“…On the other hand, what we used to call the 'environment' is more and more under the influence of human civilizations. Humans and the livestock biomass now represents 95.8% of all mammal biomass [50] and as of 2012, humans had modified more than 50% of Earth's land surface [51,52]. Bar-On et al [50] estimated that humans represent only 0.011% of Earth's total biomass but their combined scale of carbon appropriation and consumption through biomass consumption and fossil fuel use might be approximately 30% as large as total net primary production of the Earth (NPP) [53].…”