Observational Evidence of the Impact of Vegetation Cover on Surface Air Temperature Change in China

Using NOAA/AVHRR normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data, the impact of vegetation cover on surface air temperature change is investigated by subtracting the reanalysis from the observation (observation minus reanalysis, OMR). The results show that the temperature OMR trend is inversely correlated to the surface vegetation index and the strong (weak) surface warming corresponds to the surface barrenness (greenness). Areas with NDVI less than 0.1 show a large warming trend of more than 0.2 degrees C/10a, but areas with NDVI larger than 0. 5 show little surface warming and even decreasing trends of temperature. Moreover, the OMR trend sensitively responds to the seasonal vegetation cover change. Atmosphere-land feedbacks over areas with different vegetation covers can alter the response of regional surface air temperature to global warming induced by the increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gases concentrations. Thus, it is suggested that projection of future surface climate of China should incorporate the impacts of spatio-temporal variability in vegetation cover.