title: The influence of land-use change and landscape dynamics on the climate system: relevance to climate-change policy beyond the radiative effect of greenhouse gases.
abstract: Our paper documents that land-use change impacts regional and global climate through the surface-energy budget, as well as through the carbon cycle. The surface-energy budget effects may be more important than the carbon-cycle effects. However, land-use impacts on climate cannot be adequately quantified with the usual metric of 'global warming potential'. A new metric is needed to quantify the human disturbance of the Earth's surface-energy budget. This 'regional climate change potential' could offer a new metric for developing a more inclusive climate protocol. This concept would also implicitly provide a mechanism to monitor potential local-scale environmental changes that could influence biodiversity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
authors.forename: Roger A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Pielke
authors.forename: Gregg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marland
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Betts
authors.forename: Thomas N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Chase
authors.forename: Joseph L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Eastman
authors.forename: John O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Niles
authors.forename: Dev Dutta S
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Niyogi
authors.forename: Steven W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Running
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D018533:Biomass; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D002980:Climate; D018534:Earth, Planet; D017753:Ecosystem; D004777:Environment; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005843:Geography; D017752:Greenhouse Effect; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011640:Public Policy
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide