regional climate model; biosphere-atmosphere interactions; land management; land surface modelling; Land use change; biogeophysical processes; climate change
Schwaab Jonas, Meier Ronny, Mussetti Gianluca, Seneviratne Sonia, Bürgi Christine, Davin Edouard L. (2021), The role of urban trees in reducing land surface temperatures in European cities, in
Nature Communications, 12(1), 6763-6763.
Meier Ronny, Schwaab Jonas, Seneviratne Sonia I., Sprenger Michael, Lewis Elizabeth, Davin Edouard L. (2021), Empirical estimate of forestation-induced precipitation changes in Europe, in
Nature Geoscience, 14(7), 473-478.
Schwaab Jonas, Davin Edouard L., Bebi Peter, Duguay-Tetzlaff Anke, Waser Lars T., Haeni Matthias, Meier Ronny (2020), Increasing the broad-leaved tree fraction in European forests mitigates hot temperature extremes, in
Scientific Reports, 10(1), 14153-14153.
Breil M., Rechid D., Davin E.L., de Noblet-Ducoudré N., Katragkou E., Cardoso R.M., Hoffmann P., Jach L.L., Soares P.M.M., Sofiadis G., Strada8 S., Strandberg G., Tölle M.H., Warrach-Sagi K. (2020), The opposing effects of re/af-forestation on the diurnal temperature cycle at the surface and in the lowest atmospheric model level in the European summer, in
Journal of Climate, 1-58.
Davin Edouard L., Rechid Diana, Breil Marcus, Cardoso Rita M., Coppola Erika, Hoffmann Peter, Jach Lisa L., Katragkou Eleni, de Noblet-Ducoudré Nathalie, Radtke Kai, Raffa Mario, Soares Pedro M. M., Sofiadis Giannis, Strada Susanna, Strandberg Gustav, Tölle Merja H., Warrach-Sagi Kirsten, Wulfmeyer Volker (2020), Biogeophysical impacts of forestation in Europe: first results from the LUCAS (Land Use and Climate Across Scales) regional climate model intercomparison, in
Earth System Dynamics, 11(1), 183-200.
Meier Ronny, Davin Edouard L, Swenson Sean C, Lawrence David M, Schwaab Jonas (2019), Biomass heat storage dampens diurnal temperature variations in forests, in
Environmental Research Letters, 14(8), 084026-084026.
Meier Ronny, Davin Edouard L., Lejeune Quentin, Hauser Mathias, Li Yan, Martens Brecht, Schultz Natalie M., Sterling Shannon, Thiery Wim (2018), Evaluating and improving the Community Land Model's sensitivity to land cover, in
Biogeosciences, 15(15), 4731-4757.
From a global perspective, the anthropogenic increase in CO2 and other trace gases has been by far the main driver of recent climate change. At the regional scale, however, other forcings may play a more important role. In particular, Land Use and Land Cover Change (LULCC) can impact local climate conditions in various ways by altering “biogeophysical” land properties such as albedo, evapotranspiration and surface aerodynamic properties. Although the quantification of these effects is still subject to particularly large uncertainties, there is growing evidence that LULCC may locally affect surface temperature in similar proportions as other climate forcings, for instance in areas strongly affected by deforestation or other land management changes. Despite this realization, LULCC is still largely ignored in current Regional Climate Models and resulting regional or national climate change assessments, as is the case in the Swiss Climate Change Scenarios national reports (CH2011 and CH2014). Furthermore, biogeophysical effects of LULCC are not accounted for in national and international climate protocols, certainly in part due to the lack of scientific consensus and appropriate biogeophysical metrics. The recent emergence of new observational evidence of the local biogeophysical effect of land cover changes offers an unprecedented opportunity to confront models and observations and tackle the currently large uncertainties. CLIMPULSE aims to provide the first exhaustive assessment of biogeophysical impacts of LULCC at the European scale with a focus on Switzerland. This will be done by combining observational data, in particular from remote sensing, and model experiments with a state-of-the-art regional climate model. Past impacts of LULCC will be quantified with a particular attention to the recent reforestation trend over the past 40 years in Europe and more specifically over the Swiss Alps. The regional model will be evaluated against observations, further improved in particular with respect to the representation of land management and finally used to produce high-resolution climate projections under a range of future land use scenarios.Overall, the CLIMPULSE project will 1) improve our understanding of past biogeophysical impacts of LULCC on regional climate, 2) deliver policy relevant information about the climatic consequences of a range of possible future land use trajectories for Switzerland and 3) provide the necessary scientific foundations and tools toward monitoring and integrating biogeophysical effects of LULCC in a policy context.