17.07.2017: FB1-Seminar

11 Uhr, Hörsaal West, Düsternbrooker Weg 20

Land use change represents one of the most substantial human impacts on the Earth system. The large-scale transformation of natural ecosystems to managed areas alters climate through several pathways: First, biogeochemical cycles are severely disturbed; e.g., land use change caused about one third of the anthropogenic CO2 emissions during the industrial era. Second, climate is directly influenced by the modification of the physical properties of the land surface such as albedo, roughness, and evapotranspiration, often counteracting the biogeochemical effects on the local scale. In this talk I will review the observational evidence for effects of land use change on climate and show the opportunities and challenges that simulating these effects brings about. Here, I will go beyond the “classical” representation of land use change in global climate models as a change in land cover: Only about one quarter of the Earth’s land surface has undergone a change in land cover, such as clearing forest for agriculture, while twice that area is affected by land management, such as forestry. Local observational evidence points to potentially strong effects of land management on climate, yet its role on the global scale is largely unexplored due to the lack of a detailed representation in Earth system models. We will then try answer the question whether historical land use change has cooled or warmed the Earth, and if land use is a suitable tool to mitigate future climate change.

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