Abstract Transitions to terrestrial ecosystems attributable to land cover and land use change (LCLUC) and climate change can affect the climate at local to regional scales. However, conclusions from most previous studies do not provide information about local climate effects, and little research has directly quantified how LCLUC intensity within different ecoregions relates to climate variation. In this study, we present an observation-based analysis of climate sensitivity to LCLUC based on decadal LCLUC and climate data in different ecoregions. Our results revealed that variations in land surface temperature and vapor pressure were most sensitive to LCLUC across the conterminous United States, while precipitation was less sensitive. Persistent warming effects were produced from LCLUC in Appalachian and some of the central U.S., High Plains, and northwest ecoregions, but cooling effects were evident in the many southeast, northeast and some Great Lakes and Intermountain West ecoregions. Most of the warming and a few cooling ecoregions were sensitive to LCLUC. Ecoregions with increasing vapor pressure were found across the Great Plains, Intermountain West, and West Coast ecoregions and several of these regions in the Great Plains and West Coast were sensitive to LCLUC. A combination of changes in temperature, precipitation, and vapor pressure was used to characterize climate sensitivity associated with LCLUC forcing, and five major persistent patterns were found in some ecoregions. These findings suggest that climate conditions, especially temperature and vapor pressure, in some ecoregions are sensitive to LCLUC and such change should be better incorporated into regional climate assessments.

中文翻译：

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美国本土十年土地覆盖和土地利用变化的气候敏感性

摘要 由于土地覆盖和土地利用变化 (LCLUC) 和气候变化导致向陆地生态系统的转变会影响局部到区域尺度的气候。然而，大多数先前研究的结论并未提供有关局部气候影响的信息，并且很少有研究直接量化不同生态区域内 LCLUC 强度与气候变化的关系。在这项研究中，我们根据年代际 LCLUC 和不同生态区的气候数据，对 LCLUC 的气候敏感性进行了基于观测的分析。我们的结果表明，地表温度和蒸气压的变化对美国本土的 LCLUC 最为敏感，而降水则不太敏感。LCLUC 在阿巴拉契亚山脉和美国中部的一些地区、高平原、和西北生态区，但在许多东南部、东北部和一些大湖区和西部山间生态区，降温效果明显。大多数变暖和一些变冷的生态区对 LCLUC 敏感。在大平原、西部山间和西海岸生态区中发现了蒸汽压增加的生态区，大平原和西海岸的这些地区中有几个对 LCLUC 敏感。温度、降水和蒸汽压的变化组合被用来表征与 LCLUC 强迫相关的气候敏感性，在一些生态区发现了五种主要的持续模式。这些发现表明气候条件，尤其是温度和蒸汽压，