Land Use Change in Central Florida and Sensitivity Analysis Based on Agriculture to Urban Extreme Conversion

Abstract

This paper explored recent land use and land cover change in western central Florida, examining both socioeconomic and biophysical influences on land transformation and the impacts of that change. Between 1995 and 2006, a growth in population resulted in the conversion of agricultural areas, grasslands, and upland forests to urban areas. Additionally, the amount of extractive land uses (e.g., mining) increased by 21.8%, water reservoirs by 19.9%, and recreation areas by 13.3%. Regional climate modeling experiments suggest that the overall effects of land use change (LUC) on mesocale climates in summer days resulted in modified temperatures that were modulated by the new LU characteristics, local and synoptic atmospheric circulations, and the distance of rural and urban land uses from the shoreline. The difference between the extreme and actual LU simulations for temperature, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation presented higher variability in the inland urbanized and rural zones. Results can be used to better understand the basic influences of LUC and urbanization on key climate parameters, and urban heat island effects in peninsular Florida under typical weather conditions.