Journal Article

Global semi-arid climate change over last 60 years

Huang, Jianping, Ran, Jinjiang, He, Yongli, Wang, Shanshan, Xie, Yongkun, Ji, Mingxia

2016

Overview

This study analyzes areal changes and regional climate variations in global semi-arid regions over 61 years (1948–2008) and investigates the dynamics of global semi-arid climate change. The results reveal that the largest expansion of drylands has occurred in semi-arid regions since the early 1960s. This expansion of semi-arid regions accounts for more than half of the total dryland expansion. The area of semi-arid regions in the most recent 15 years studied (1990–2004) is 7 % larger than that during the first 15 years (1948–1962) of the study period; this expansion totaled 0.4 × 10⁶ and 1.2 × 10⁶ km² within the American continents and in the Eastern Hemisphere, respectively. Although semi-arid expansion occurred in both regions, the shifting patterns of the expansion are different. Across the American continents, the newly formed semi-arid regions developed from arid regions, in which the climate became wetter. Conversely, in the continental Eastern Hemisphere, semi-arid regions replaced sub-humid/humid regions, in which the climate became drier. The climate change in drying semi-arid regions over East Asia is primarily dominated by a weakened East Asian summer monsoon, while the wetting of semi-arid regions over North America is primarily controlled by enhanced westerlies.

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Agriculture / Analysis / Arid climates / arid lands / Arid regions / Arid zones / Climate change / Climatic changes / Climatology / Continents / Deserts / drying / Earth and Environmental Science / Earth Sciences / East Asia / Geophysics/Geodesy / monsoon season / North America / Oceanography / Semiarid climates / Semiarid lands / semiarid zones / Studies / summer