Aridification is the process of a region becoming increasingly
dryA region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life...
. It refers to long term change rather than seasonal variation.
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Aridification is the process of a region becoming increasingly
dryA region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life...
. 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 natural or
anthropogenicAnthropogenic effects, processes or materials are those that are derived from human activities, as opposed to those occurring in biophysical environments without human influence....
means such as
climate changeClimate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years. It can be a change in the average weather or a change in the distribution of weather events around an average...
, reduced precipitation, increased evaporation, lowering of water tables or changes in ground cover.
Its major consequences include reduced agricultural production, soil degradation, ecosystem changes and decreased water catchment runoff.
See also
- Arid
A region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life...
- Climate change and agriculture
Climate change and agriculture are interrelated processes, both of which take place on a global scale. Global warming is projected to have significant impacts on conditions affecting agriculture, including temperature, carbon dioxide, glacial run-off, precipitation and the interaction of these...
- Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives almost no precipitation. Deserts are defined as areas with an average annual precipitation of less than per year, or as areas where more water is lost by evapotranspiration than falls as precipitation. In the Köppen climate classification system,...
- Desertification
Desertification is the degradation of land in arid and dry sub-humid areas, resulting primarily from man-made activities and influenced by climatic variations...
- Global warming
Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C during the last century...
- Groundwater
Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of lithologic formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in...
- Soil moisture
- Water balance
In hydrology, a water balance equation can be used to describe the flow of water in and out of a system. A system can be one of several hydrological domains, such as a column of soil or a drainage basin.-Equation:...
- Water content
Water content or moisture content is the quantity of water contained in a material, such as soil , rock, ceramics, or wood on a volumetric or gravimetric basis...
- Water cycle
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