The land cover and land use in Inner Mongolia (40-52 N to 110- 135 E), a large region of productive tall-to-short steppes in Northern Eurasia, is undergoing significant changes associated with a changing climate patterns, intensifying hydrological cycles, and a hasty socio-economic development. The combined changes in the frequency of extreme weather events, intensified grazing and extensive land development have led to the decline of native ecosystems, more severe soil erosion and more frequent sandstorms, which in turn adversely affect the native as well as agricultural ecosystems on which the region depends. The rapid economic and political changes in China suggest continued expansion of intensive land use in Inner Mongolia and other arid and semi-arid regions, which, according to current understanding, is beyond the capacity of the ecosystems. However, while compelling, these parallel processes have not been conclusively linked to each other and to global climate change.

In the proposed study we will analyze current and historic patterns of land cover and land use, shifts in biome boundaries and changes in soil-vegetation-atmosphere water and energy balance, and their importance to ecosystem function across the region of Inner Mongolia. ?We hypothesize that the spatial and temporal variability of energy fluxes, including net radiation, soil heat flux, latent heat, and sensible heat, has increased as the result of increasing land use intensity and climatic variability.? Our focus will be on the following key variables:

Water: ET, E, EF, Tr, LWSI, Wleaf, M

Energy: Rn, L, G, Q, H, T