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Desertification in a Changing Climate with a particular attention to the Mediterranean countries

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Desertification in Europe

Abstract

There is a duality between climate and general circulation. Southern Europe belongs at present to the dry summer Mediterranean climatic zone, situated between the woodland suboceanic climate of the cooltemperate zone, (which is related to the transient eddies associated to the polar front), and the dry climates of the high pressure subtropical belt. Any change in the general circulation resulting, for example, from changes in the boundary conditions which characterized it, will lead to a change of the overall climatic pattern. Such changes, as occured 125,000 YBP (peak of last interglacial), 18,000 YBP (maximum glacial advance of the Wurm), 9,000 YBP (peak of Holocene interglacial) and as expected from a doubling of the atmospheric CO2 in the mid-21th century, will be reviewed in order to stress the potential subsequent change in the vulnerability of the environment to desertification in these regions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut d’Astronomie et de Géophysique G. Lemaître, Université Catholique de Louvain, 2 Chemin du Cyclotron, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    A. Berger

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  1. A. Berger
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Directorate-General for Science, Research and Development, Commission of the European Communities, Brussels, Belgium

    R. Fantechi

  2. Division of Ecology, Department of Biology, School of Sciences, University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    N. S. Margaris

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© 1986 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Berger, A. (1986). Desertification in a Changing Climate with a particular attention to the Mediterranean countries. In: Fantechi, R., Margaris, N.S. (eds) Desertification in Europe. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4648-4_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4648-4_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8565-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-4648-4

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