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Temperature trends in regions affected by increasing aridity/humidity
Author(s) -
Jones Philip D.,
Reid Phillip A.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2001gl013840
Subject(s) - aridity index , arid , desertification , precipitation , environmental science , humidity , evapotranspiration , relative humidity , heat index , atmospheric sciences , climatology , physical geography , meteorology , geography , geology , ecology , paleontology , biology
A paper in 1991 claimed that regions affected by desertification experience warming trends relative to neighbouring areas. To assess this, an index of aridity/humidity based on the ratio of annual precipitation to annual potential evapotranspiration totals (P/PET) is developed. This index is used to define regions experiencing increases (and those where the increase is statistically significant) in aridity and humidity. We also consider regions always arid (average values of P/PET <0.5) and always humid (P/PET >2.0). Trends of average annual and summer surface air temperature are then calculated for regions in the various aridity/humidity categories and compared to most of the rest of the world's land areas equatorward of 60°. The results indicate that most of the differences in trends between categories are not statistically significant.