{"title":"Divergent response of aridity index to historical land use and land cover change","authors":"Tao Tang, Jun Ge, Haiyun Shi, Junji Cao","doi":"10.1038/s41612-025-00978-1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>By using model simulations, we show that historical land use and land cover change since 1850 has impacted aridity index (AI) worldwide, causing divergent responses in different regions. Locally, AI tends to increase (getting humid) in reforestation regions and most humid regions. Owing to these changes, the area of the humid zone expanded insignificantly by 0.22% of the global land area at the expense of drylands.</p>","PeriodicalId":19438,"journal":{"name":"npj Climate and Atmospheric Science","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"npj Climate and Atmospheric Science","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-00978-1","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"METEOROLOGY & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
By using model simulations, we show that historical land use and land cover change since 1850 has impacted aridity index (AI) worldwide, causing divergent responses in different regions. Locally, AI tends to increase (getting humid) in reforestation regions and most humid regions. Owing to these changes, the area of the humid zone expanded insignificantly by 0.22% of the global land area at the expense of drylands.
期刊介绍:
npj Climate and Atmospheric Science is an open-access journal encompassing the relevant physical, chemical, and biological aspects of atmospheric and climate science. The journal places particular emphasis on regional studies that unveil new insights into specific localities, including examinations of local atmospheric composition, such as aerosols.
The range of topics covered by the journal includes climate dynamics, climate variability, weather and climate prediction, climate change, ocean dynamics, weather extremes, air pollution, atmospheric chemistry (including aerosols), the hydrological cycle, and atmosphere–ocean and atmosphere–land interactions. The journal welcomes studies employing a diverse array of methods, including numerical and statistical modeling, the development and application of in situ observational techniques, remote sensing, and the development or evaluation of new reanalyses.