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The surface energy budget
How are we changing the surface energy budget with land-cover change?
The fluxes of moisture and heat are very important parts of regional climate and
weather. When the surface is changed, the surface energy budget also changes.
For example, in temperate climates with forests, cutting down trees to put in houses results in less vegetative area. With less stored water that can be potentially evaporated, the sensible heat fluxes from the area will increase and latent heat fluxes will decrease. The air above the surface will be drier and warmer as a result. This is the urban heat island effect.
However, in semi-arid climates, putting houses where there was previously scrubby vegetation will probably decrease the sensible heat flux. This is because people like to have green lawns, even if they live in a desert, and the moisture in the lawns is evaporated via latent heat flux.
It is important to study the effects of human-induced land cover change. This website on albedo explains how the earth's darker and lighter surfaces affect climate.
Next page -> what is the planetary boundary layer?
Links and resources
How are we changing the surface energy budget with land-cover change?
The fluxes of moisture and heat are very important parts of regional climate and
weather. When the surface is changed, the surface energy budget also changes.
For example, in temperate climates with forests, cutting down trees to put in houses results in less vegetative area. With less stored water that can be potentially evaporated, the sensible heat fluxes from the area will increase and latent heat fluxes will decrease. The air above the surface will be drier and warmer as a result. This is the urban heat island effect.
However, in semi-arid climates, putting houses where there was previously scrubby vegetation will probably decrease the sensible heat flux. This is because people like to have green lawns, even if they live in a desert, and the moisture in the lawns is evaporated via latent heat flux.
It is important to study the effects of human-induced land cover change. This website on albedo explains how the earth's darker and lighter surfaces affect climate.
Next page -> what is the planetary boundary layer?
Links and resources
