Land Use/Land Cover and Soil Type Covariation in a Heterogeneous Landscape for Soil Moisture Studies Using Point Data

Examining the influence of land use/land cover transformation on meteorological variables has become imperative for maintaining long-term climate sustainability. Rapid growth and haphazard expansion have caused the conversion of prime agricultural land into a built-up area. This study used multitemporal Landsat data to analyze land use/land cover (LULC) changes, and Terra Climate monthly data to examine the impact of land transformation on precipitation, minimum and maximum temperature, wind speed, and soil moisture in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra state in India during 1999–2019. Multiple linear regression and correlation analysis were performed to determine the association among LULC classes and climatic variables. This study revealed rapid urbanization in the study area over the years. The built-up area, water bodies, and barren lands have recorded a steep rise, while the agricultural area has decreased in the district. Drastic changes were observed in the climatic variables over the years. The precipitation and wind speed have shown decreasing trends during the study period. A positive relationship between soil moisture and agricultural land was found through a correlation analysis. Conspicuous findings about the positive relationship between the agricultural land and maximum temperature need further investigation. A multiple linear regression analysis demonstrated a negative relationship between the built-up area and precipitation. The intensity of the precipitation has reduced as a consequence of the developmental activities in the study area. Moreover, a positive relationship was observed between the built-up area and maximum temperature. Thus, this study calls for policy implications to formulate a futuristic land-use plan considering climate change projection in the district.

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The impact of land use/land cover changes and hydraulic structures on flood recession process

Journal of Water and Climate Change ◽

10.2166/wcc.2017.100 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 375-387 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Chun Chang ◽

Ping Feng

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Soil Moisture ◽

Land Cover ◽

Storage Capacity ◽

Hydraulic Structures ◽

Land Cover Changes ◽

Land Use Land Cover ◽

Soil Moisture Storage ◽

Recession Curves ◽

Moisture Storage

Intensified human activities have brought about great changes in runoff generation and convergence. As a significant part of the hydrological process, recession flows represent the capacity of a river basin to store rain and drain it during dry periods; therefore study of the influence of human-induced factors on flood flow recession is of great importance. The Fuping sub-catchment was selected as the study area. Comparisons of land use/land cover and soil moisture storage capacity changes were made between reference and impaired periods. In addition, 64 recession flows during 1958–2005 were simulated using the linear and non-linear reservoir recession models. Then the influence of land use/land cover changes and hydraulic structures on recession flows was identified. Results showed that grassland and cultivated land declined in area while forests increased. At the same time, there was a sharp increase in the soil moisture storage capacity. The non-linear recession model, being more accurate than the linear recession model, was used to simulate the recession process. Compared with recession curves before 1980, the initial outflow from the basin declined while the power law coefficient and recession duration increased; the power law exponent was relatively constant. Furthermore, the shapes of recession curves were flattened.

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