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Integrated analysis and mapping of aridity over Greek areas with different climate conditions
Assessment of aridity conditions prevailing in a certain area is essential for the research on climate and climate change. Greece is characterized by a variety of climatic conditions such as drought conditions or flooding phenomena. The current study focuses on three selected areas within Greece that present different climatic characteristics due to their location and aims to analyze and compare the aridity conditions prevailing in these areas. Aridity conditions were estimated using the Aridity Index (AI). Mann-Kendall test was applied to investigate possible trends. Spatial distribution of aridity conditions was performed using multi-linear regression techniques and Kriging method within ArcGIS 10.2.1.
The results indicated that the study areas face humid conditions, mostly due to the existence of high altitudes. Furthermore, the various climatic conditions are responsible for differentiations in seasonal analysis regarding the aridity conditions. The study areas related to the Mediterranean climate resulted more heterogeneous conditions compared with areas affected by the continental climate. Nevertheless, the created aridity spatial maps of trend analysis presented with differentiations, especially in the mountainous areas were an extreme downward trend is appeared. For the southern investigated area in Crete Island characterized purely by Mediterranean climate, the results were more moderate in terms of aridity conditions.
