Land Use/Land Cover Changes and Regional Climate Over the Loess Plateau During 2001-2009 – Part II.

Afforestation efforts in China resulted in significant changes in vegetation coverage over the Loess Plateau during 2001-2009.While regional climate conditions dominate the distribution of major vegetation types, human activities, primarily afforestation/reforestation and the resultant land use/land cover (LULC) changes (LULCC) and their impacts, are the focus of this study.A new attribution method was developed and applied to observed data for investigating the interrelationships between climate variation and LULCC.Regional climate (temperature and precipitation) changes are attributed to climate variation and LULCC; LULCC is attributed to climate variation and human activities.Climate attribution analysis indicated a larger contribution ratio (based on comparison of standard deviations of each contributing factor-induced climate changes and that of total change)