Description:

Land use and land cover change (LULCC) can significantly contribute to overall climate change. The impacts of LULCC are often complex as they occur in the context of a warming climate. LULCC affects the global concentration of greenhouse gasses, often times removing vegetation and forest cover that acts as a natural carbon sink. This can contribute to already elevated levels of greenhouse gases which can promote a positive feedback leading to further land use change. LULCC can accelerate parts of the hydrologic cycle, such as runoff characteristics and groundwater storage, and in some cases increase the likelihood of extreme flooding events in urban areas. This session serves as a continuation of the previous year’s session to disseminate research that investigates the impact of LULCC on climate across multiple spatio-temporal scales via high resolution, numerical prediction models and observation analysis. Research on best practices and emerging methods in application and implementation of LULCC are also welcome, as no uniform methodology exists in the current literature.