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Aridification

Long-term process of a region becoming increasingly arid

Long-term process of a region becoming increasingly arid

Aridification is the process of a region becoming increasingly arid, or dry. It refers to long term change, rather than seasonal variation.

It is often measured as the reduction of average soil moisture content. It can be caused by reduced precipitation, increased evaporation, lowering of water tables, and changes in ground cover acting individually or in combination. Its major consequences include reduced agricultural production, soil degradation, ecosystem changes and decreased water catchment runoff.

Some researchers have found that the Colorado River basin and other parts of western North America are currently undergoing aridification.

A December 2024 report from the UNCCD concluded that more than three-quarters of the Earth's land "has become permanently dryer in recent decades", that "drier climates now affecting vast regions across the globe will not return to how they were", and that a quarter of the global population lives in expanding drylands.

References

References

  1. (2020). "Assessing Shifts in Regional Hydroclimatic Conditions of U.S. River Basins in Response to Climate Change over the 21st Century". Earth's Future.
  2. (February 2000). "GLASOD Classification of Soil Degradation".
  3. Erickson, Jim. (May 19, 2020). "But it's a dry heat: Climate change and the aridification of North America". [[University of Michigan]].
  4. (2020). "Climate change and the aridification of North America". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
  5. (9 December 2024). "The Global Threat of Drying Lands: Regional and global aridity trends and future projections". United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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