Integrated analysis and mapping of aridity over Greek areas with different climate conditions

Abstract

Assessment of aridity conditions prevailing in a certain area is essential for the research on climate and climate change. Greece is characterized by a variety of climatic conditions such as drought conditions or flooding phenomena. The current study focuses on three selected areas within Greece that present different climatic characteristics due to their location and aims to analyze and compare the aridity conditions prevailing in these areas. Aridity conditions were estimated using the Aridity Index (AI). MannKendall test was applied to investigate possible trends. Spatial distribution of aridity conditions was performed using multi-linear regression techniques and Kriging method within ArcGIS 10.2.1.The results indicated that the study areas face humid conditions, mostly due to the existence of high altitudes. Furthermore, the various climatic conditions are responsible for differentiations in seasonal analysis regarding the aridity conditions. The study areas related to the Mediterranean climate resulted more heterogeneous conditions compared with areas affected by the continental climate. Nevertheless, the created aridity spatial maps of trend analysis presented with differentiations, especially in the mountainous areas were an extreme downward trend is appeared. For the southern investigated area in Crete Island characterized purely by Mediterranean climate, the results were more moderate in terms of aridity conditions.

Past, present, and future geographic range of an oro-Mediterranean Tertiary relict: The juniperus drupacea case study

“…1 and 5). The greater aridity in the Eastern part of the Peloponnese compared with the mountains of Turkey (Türkeş 2003;Ünal et al 2003;Panagiotis et al 2013;Paparrizos et al 2016) did not seem to influence the species' geographic range; however, it did affect absolute numbers, with just single dead individuals of J. drupacea observed on the shallow soil (Maerki, personal communication).…”

Past, present, and future geographic range of the relict Mediterranean and Macaronesian Juniperus phoenicea complex

“…The reduction in the potential niche of J. turbinata is more apparent in the pessimistic scenario RCP8.5, in which the temperature would increase by approximately 2°C, precipitation would decrease and there would be a general increase in climate aridity (Allen et al, 2010;Born et al, 2008;Díez-Garretas et al, 2019;Giannakopoulos et al, 2009;Giorgi & Lionello, 2008;Panagiotis et al, 2013;Paparrizos et al, 2016;Türkeş 2003).…”

“…In our study, precipitation was found to determine the potential niche ranges of the J. phoenicea complex to a very high degree. The predicted reduction in precipitation during spring and summer will increase aridity (Giannakopoulos et al, 2009;Panagiotis et al, 2013;Paparrizos et al, 2016) and will also raise tree mortality (Walas et al, 2019). Drought during the summer period has previously provoked an increase in the rate of direct die-out of juniper specimens in several regions around the Mediterranean Sea (Berger & Heurteaux, 1985;Elmahdy & Mohamed, 2016;Lloret & Granzow-de la Cerda, 2013; personal observations).…”