Global warming, desertification/degradation, and droughts in arid regions

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Abstract

Applications of the concept of climatic desertification are considered. They include an approach to a separate assessment of aridization and degradation of arid lands and an approach to identifying “islands” of desertification from satellite data. It is established that the contribution of anthropogenic land degradation to desertification is confirmed by a significant linear trend of interannual fluctuations of satellite indicators of pasture digression in all the studied arid areas of Russia and Mongolia in the period 2000–2016. Significant trends in the intensification of aridization were characteristic only for a part of arid areas. Because of the excessive pastoral digression in arid areas, “islands” of desertification of anthropogenic origin are formed. The lifetime of such “islands” is determined by human influence and fluctuations in the humidity of the climate. An additional factor in the short-term decline in the life of the “islands” in Mongolia is the catastrophic death of livestock as a result of natural disasters (drought, zuta). The “island” of desertification, of natural origin, is found in the reserved part of the Sonora Desert, where rainy seasons and droughts determine the spread of aridization. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of trends in climatic characteristics. The increase in air temperature occurred in all the areas under study. Negative trends in annual and seasonal precipitation dominated the steppe zone of Russia during the periods 1936–1960 and 1991–2016, when the surface temperature of the North Atlantic was above normal. On the contrary, positive precipitation trends, weakening aridization, were observed in the period 1961–1990, corresponding to a temperature below the norm.

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A. N. Zolotokrylin

Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences

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Email: azolotokrylin1938@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, 29, Staromonetny, Moscow, 119017

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Supplementary files

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2. Fig. 1. The annual variation of the averaged spectral parameters of MODIS in the period 2000–2017: the vegetative index NDVI (1) and albedo Al (2) in arid territories (a) of Russia (44 ° –52 ° N, 35 ° –65 ° E, average for April 7 – September 30), (b) Mexico (31.7 ° –32 ° N, 113.6 ° –114.6 ° W; average for April 30 –June 17) .

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3. Fig. 2. (a) The inter-annual variation of the averaged spectral parameters of MODIS in the period 2000–2017: the vegetative index NDVI (1) and the albedo Al (2) in Central Mongolia (42 ° –48 ° N, 98 ° –110 ° V. (June 10 – August 28) (b) Density of livestock per 1 km2 in Mongolia and its various regions, where: 1 - Mongolia, 2 - Aymag Dundgov, 3 - Dalgertsogt, 4 - Gurvansayham, 5 - Erdenedalay.

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4. Fig. 3. “Islands” of desertification (dark shades of color) in the North-West Pre-Caspian region: a - period 1985–1991; b - the period of 2011–2017 The intensity of desertification (scale) increases with an increase in the negative correlation coefficient between albedo and surface temperature.

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5. Fig. 4. (a) The field of negative correlation between albedo and surface temperature in the El Pinakat Biosphere Reserve and Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve from March 30 to June 17, 2000–2017. and “island” of desertification (correlation coefficient less than –0.5); (b) Relief map: isohypses, m. The field of negative correlation is highlighted in gray, the dashed line is the “island” of desertification.

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