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South Dakota State University

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2010

Geography

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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Radiative Forcing Over The Conterminous United States Due To Contemporary Land Cover Use Change And Sensitivity To Snow And Interannual Albedo Variability, Christoper A. Barnes, David P. Roy Dec 2010

Radiative Forcing Over The Conterminous United States Due To Contemporary Land Cover Use Change And Sensitivity To Snow And Interannual Albedo Variability, Christoper A. Barnes, David P. Roy

GSCE Faculty Publications

Satellite‐derived land cover land use (LCLU), snow and albedo data, and incoming surface solar radiation reanalysis data were used to study the impact of LCLU change from 1973 to 2000 on surface albedo and radiative forcing for 58 ecoregions covering 69% of the conterminous United States. A net positive surface radiative forcing (i.e., warming) of 0.029 Wm−2 due to LCLU albedo change from 1973 to 2000 was estimated. The forcings for individual ecoregions were similar in magnitude to current global forcing estimates, with the most negative forcing (as low as −0.367 Wm−2) due to the transition to forest and the …