There is enough evidence that landscape change has impact on regional energy and water balance resulting in climate change. Climate change also changes landscape. The expansion of the Sahara Desert corresponds to land degradation where the role of vegetation in keeping surface energy fractionation in balance and initiation of the rainfall process is diminished. Non-vegetated dry areas appropriate more solar energy to sensible heat (surface temperature increase) than latent heat (evapotranspiration). Evapotranspiration has cooling effect and is part of the hydrologic cycle. Solar energy reflectance (albedo) is dependent on surface characteristics. In this chapter, cases of landscape change and climate change in Africa, China, and the United States are presented. Application of remote sensing in observation of land cover, surface temperature, and energy partitioning is presented for monitoring wetland and dryland landscapes.
