Abstract
In the context of global warming, an increase in
atmospheric aridity and global dryland expansion under the
future climate has been expected in previous studies. However,
this conflicts with observed greening over drylands and
the insignificant increase in hydrological and ecological aridity
from the ecohydrology perspective. Combining climatic,
hydrological, and vegetation data, this study evaluated global
dryland aridity changes at meteorological stations from 2003
to 2019. A decoupling between atmospheric, hydrological,
and vegetation aridity was found. Atmospheric aridity represented by the vapor pressure deficit (VPD) increased, hydrological aridity indicated by machine-learning-based precipitation minus evapotranspiration (PET) data did not change significantly, and ecological aridity represented by the leaf area index (LAI) decreased. PET showed nonsignificant changes in most of the dominant combinations of the VPD, LAI, and PET. This study highlights the added
value of using station-scale data to assess dryland change as a complement to results based on coarse-resolution reanalysis data and land surface models
atmospheric aridity and global dryland expansion under the
future climate has been expected in previous studies. However,
this conflicts with observed greening over drylands and
the insignificant increase in hydrological and ecological aridity
from the ecohydrology perspective. Combining climatic,
hydrological, and vegetation data, this study evaluated global
dryland aridity changes at meteorological stations from 2003
to 2019. A decoupling between atmospheric, hydrological,
and vegetation aridity was found. Atmospheric aridity represented by the vapor pressure deficit (VPD) increased, hydrological aridity indicated by machine-learning-based precipitation minus evapotranspiration (PET) data did not change significantly, and ecological aridity represented by the leaf area index (LAI) decreased. PET showed nonsignificant changes in most of the dominant combinations of the VPD, LAI, and PET. This study highlights the added
value of using station-scale data to assess dryland change as a complement to results based on coarse-resolution reanalysis data and land surface models
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 4551-4562 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
| Volume | 27 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 20 Dec 2023 |