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1. Introduction agriculture supplies over one-third of the country's Accommodating the needs of future U.S. inhabitants vegetables and about two-thirds of the country's fruits and will necessitate substantial conversion of existing land- nuts; USDA 2012). Through 2060, the Central Valley forms to the built environment (e.g., residential dwellings, population will account for nearly one-third of the 15 transportation network, and commercial infrastructure), million additional state inhabitants (California Department prompting development of roughly 250 000 km of new of Finance 2013). Modification of large swaths of exist- urban land use through 2100 (Bierwagen et al. 2010). A ing California landscapes to urban areas raises regional sizable fraction of projected urban growth is expected for climate concerns for future residents. the state of California-the most populated state in the Urban environments, perhaps the most evident ex- United States-with a meaningful share of expansion lo- pression of land-use and land-cover change, are recog- cated within its agriculturally productive central regions nized as major modifiers of local- to regional-scale climate (Fig. 1). The state's Central Valley is of notable impor- (Mills 2007). While the urban heat island (UHI) is clas- tance both locally (4 of the top 5 producing counties, in sically acknowledged as the most distinct indicator of terms of agricultural cash receipts, are located within the the built environment's existence (Stewart and Oke Central Valley; USDA 2012) and domestically (California 2012), examination of urban impacts must extend be- yond near-surface temperature to include effects on hydroclimate, air quality and consequent dispersion of particulates, energy demand necessary for the mainte- Denotes Open Access content. nance of living comfort, and consequences for ecosys- tems and biodiversity (Shepherd 2005; Kaufmann et al. Corresponding author address: Matei Georgescu, 975 S. Myrtle 2007; Hanna et al. 2006; Lawrence et al. 2007; Keirstead Ave., 5th floor, P.O. Box 875302, Tempe AZ 85287-5302. et al. 2012; Wu 2008; Salamanca et al. 2014). Potential E-mail: matei.georgescu@asu.edu impacts of greenhouse gas-induced climate change have DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00290.1 2015 American Meteorological Society Brought to you by NOAA Library | Unauthenticated I Downloaded 01/15/25 06:34 PM UT