Land Use and Land Cover Changes in Europe and the Impact on Near-Surface Wind Speed in Sweden

Sammanfattning: Investigations of Land use and land cover change (LULCC) have recently become of increasing interest. This trend occurs not only based of the importance of biogeochemical processes such as carbon sequestration, but also because of their climate impacts caused by changed biogeophysical properties. This study examines the LULCC in Europe between 2000 and 2018 based on the Corine Land Cover raster maps created by Copernicus, with a focus on Sweden and the impact on near-surface wind speed. For this purpose, 59 wind stations in Sweden were selected where changes within a radius of 1 km have been found. These LULCC were classified, and appropriate surface roughness values were assigned based on existing literature. Using a geographic information system, the surface roughness changes were then characterized and documented. With the help of an ODR-method (Observation divided by Reanalysis), this study tried to utilize the inherent properties of ground-based observations and reanalysis data (ERA5) to find out if near-surface wind speed changes are a result of LULCC. The analysis shows strong decreases in Agricultural land across Europe, which is partly replaced by Urban areas at the outskirts of metropolitan areas as well as forest areas. Furthermore, no clear correlations between LULCC and the near-surface wind speed are apparent, which indicates that the wind speed is not strongly affected by the local changes in Land use and land cover (LULC). Errors in the raster data of LULC may also play a role in masking the relationship between changed surface roughness and wind speed.