Impact of land-use and land-cover change on meteorology in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region from 1990 to 2010

Abstract

Land use and land cover (LULC) in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has changed significantly since 1990. To comprehensively understand its impact on meteorology, this paper uses an LULC transfer matrix to discuss changes 10 years before the millennium (BM) and 10 years after the millennium (AM). The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is used to simulate air temperature, precipitation, and wind speed in January and July using 1990, 2000, and 2010 LULC data. The temperature increase in the AM period (0.118 °C) was greater than that in the BM period (0.042 °C) and increased by 0.36 °C in response to the transformation from croplands to urban and built-up lands (UBL). The change in precipitation showed an obvious seasonal difference, where the trend decreased in winter and increased in summer. There was a small band of precipitation change that extended from Beijing to Shijiazhuang. The wind speed at 10 m decreased by 0.04 m/s in winter and 0.017 m/s in summer. Simultaneously, the impact on meteorology from different classification transformations was quantified. The region where land was transformed into UBL had the largest reduction in wind speed, and was later transformed into woodlands. A comprehensive discussion on the impact of LULC changes on climate should support the future development of more environmentally compatible and sustainable land planning.