Regional climate effects of plastic film mulch over the cropland of arid and semi-arid regions in Northwest China using a regional climate model

Plastic film mulch, which effectively maintains soil moisture by suppressing soil evaporation, has been widely used in cropland in Northwest China, where water scarcity severely restricts agricultural development. Plastic mulch affects surface albedo and blocks water vapor exchange between soil and atmosphere. Therefore, the large area of cropland covered by plastic film will have serious impacts on regional climate by modifying the surface-atmosphere partitioning of vapor and energy. In this study, a dynamic irrigation scheme was incorporated into the Weather Research and Forecasting model with Noah land surface scheme; two experiments (with and without plastic mulch) were designed to simulate the impacts of plastic mulch over cropland in Northwest China on regional climate. In irrigated cropland, the irrigation amount decreased substantially during the early stage of crop growth (ESCG; from 22 April to 1 July) with plastic mulch, especially in May, indicating that plastic mulch conserved agricultural water. In nonirrigated cropland, soil moisture in cropland with plastic mulch was clearly greater than that without plastic mulch. The influences of plastic mulch on land surface processes were mainly reflected in the ESCG, such that upward shortwave radiation increased and latent heat flux decreased. In cropland during the ESCG, after plastic mulch, the latent heat flux decreased significantly by 12–30 W m −2 , the sensible heat flux increased significantly by 8–16 W m −2 , and the surface air temperature increased significantly by 0.2–0.8 °C. The plastic mulch reduced water vapor in the lower atmosphere, which might lead to decrease precipitation in Northwest China.