Divergent response of aridity index to historical land use and land cover change
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.
Authors
- Junji Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1000-7241)
- Tao Tang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9390-7271)
- Haiyun Shi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5793-1138)
- Jun Ge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8876-1650)
Institutions
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Southern University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Institute of Atmospheric Physics (CN)
- Nanjing University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Climate and Atmospheric Science
- Published
- 2025-03-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-00978-1
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.32
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities