Recent Climatic Change in the World's Drylands

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Abstract
Precipitation and temperature trends in nine dryland regions are analysed for the period 1900 to 1994. No widespread desiccation in dryland climates is found, the African Sahel being the only region to demonstrate a significant drying trend. All dryland regions have warmed, however, with the majority of the warming probably being unrelated to regional dryland effects. This warming may have contributed to a worsening of the P/PE ratio in many of these dryland regions. Three African dryland regions are alone in showing a significant negative correlation between precipitation and temperature, contrasting with the relationship for global land areas of warmer years/decades being also wetter years/decades. The relative lack of warming in the Sahel is noted and increased atmospheric dust resulting from the increased desiccation of the region is suggested as a possible explanation.