12A.1
The influence of land use change on mesoscale circulations in Southwest Australia
Yuling Wu, Univ. of Alabama, Huntsville, AL; and U. S. Nair, T. J. Lyons, and R. A. Pielke
Previous study shows that the removal of native vegetation in Southwest Australia for agricultural purpose has a significant cooling effect during the summer when the land use in the agricultural area deviates most from the native land in albedo, leaf area, vegetation cover, and surface roughness. On average, air temperature was cooler by more than 1 0C near the surface in the day resulting in lower boundary layer height by ~250 m near noon in the agricultural area during the BuFex summer field study period. The impact of land use change to the atmosphere is not limited to the local microscale. Evidence obtained from the field study also shows that sea breeze intrusion occurred earlier and with higher strength in the native vegetation site compared to the agricultural site. The higher temperature in the native vegetation area developed a stronger thermal gradient from the coast inducing mesoscale land-sea breeze circulation. Furthermore, it is likely that a thermal circulation develops between the cooler agricultural area and its surrounding native vegetation land. The present study will investigate the influence of land use change to these mesoscale circulations by model simulations with the use of a delicate land-atmosphere module and the application of satellite derived land use data.
Session 12A, Surface Measurements and Trends—I
Thursday, 15 January 2009, 8:30 AM-9:45 AM, Room 130
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