Minchao Wu
Researcher
Land-atmosphere interactions and regional Earth system dynamics due to natural and anthropogenic vegetation changes
Author
Summary, in English
In this thesis, I investigated regional land surface changes due to natural and anthropogenic vegetation changes and their impacts on land-atmosphere interactions, by applying a dynamical downscaling approach with RCA-GUESS, a RESM that couples the Rossby Centre regional climate model RCA4 to LPJ-GUESS, an ecosystem model that combines an individual-based representation of vegetation structure and dynamics with process-based physiology and biogeochemistry. Europe, Africa and South America were chosen as research domains. In the land surface study based on LPJ-GUESS simulations, I showed that future changes in the fire regime over Europe, driven by climate and socioeconomic change, were important for projecting future land surface changes. Fire-vegetation interactions and socioeconomic effects emerged as important uncertainties for future burned area. My study on land-atmosphere interactions based on RCA-GUESS simulations indicated that the hydrological cycle in the tropics was sensitive to land cover changes over semi-arid regions in Africa, and that biophysical feedbacks were important through their modulation of regional circulation patterns. A study based on the analysis of empirical datasets and CMIP5 ESMs outputs revealed that simulated climate biases are the main cause of model-data discrepancies. Models and data shared a marked hydrological relationship that suggested that decreased precipitation and land use change constituted the largest threats to the future Amazon forest. A study based on RCA-GUESS simulations with a realistic land use scenario identified both positive and negative impacts of land use on natural ecosystem productivity in the Amazon through its effects on the local and the regional climate.
Department/s
- Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
- MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system
Publishing year
2017-01
Language
English
Full text
Document type
Dissertation
Publisher
Lund University, Faculty of Science, Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
Topic
- Natural Sciences
Keywords
- land-atmosphere interactions
- RCA-GUESS
- LPJ-GUESS
- Vegetation dynamics
- Fire
Status
Published
Project
- Land-atmosphere interactions and regional Earth system dynamics due to natural and anthropogenic vegetation changes
Supervisor
- Markku Rummukainen
- Guy Schurgers
- Paul Miller
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISBN: 978-91-85793-74-7
- ISBN: 978-91-85793-73-0
Defence date
3 February 2017
Defence time
10:00
Defence place
Geocentrum I, lecture hall "Världen", Sölvegatan 10, Lund
Opponent
- Christine Delire (Dr.)