Long-Term Monitoring of Trends in Xerothermality and Vegetation Condition of a Northeast Mediterranean Island Using Meteorological and Remote Sensing Data

Panteleimon Xofis (), Elissavet Feloni, Dimitrios Emmanouloudis, Stavros Chatzigiovanakis, Kalliopi Kravari, Elena Samourkasidou, George Kefalas and Panagiotis Nastos
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Panteleimon Xofis: Department of Forestry and Natural Environment Sciences, Democritus University of Thrace, 1st km Drama-Mikrohori, GR66100 Drama, Greece
Elissavet Feloni: Department of Surveying and Geoinformatics Engineering, Egaleo Park Campus, University of West Attica, 5 Ag. Spyridonos Str., GR12243 Athens, Greece
Dimitrios Emmanouloudis: Department of Forestry and Natural Environment Sciences, Democritus University of Thrace, 1st km Drama-Mikrohori, GR66100 Drama, Greece
Stavros Chatzigiovanakis: Department of Forestry and Natural Environment Sciences, Democritus University of Thrace, 1st km Drama-Mikrohori, GR66100 Drama, Greece
Kalliopi Kravari: ASSIST Lab (Analysis and Management of Natural Disasters and Technological Risks), Democritus University of Thrace, 1st km Drama-Mikrohori, GR66100 Drama, Greece
Elena Samourkasidou: ASSIST Lab (Analysis and Management of Natural Disasters and Technological Risks), Democritus University of Thrace, 1st km Drama-Mikrohori, GR66100 Drama, Greece
George Kefalas: Department of Geography, Harokopio University, El. Venizelou 70, Kallithea, GR17676 Athens, Greece
Panagiotis Nastos: Laboratory of Climatology and Atmospheric Environment, Department of Geology and Geoenvironment, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, University Campus, GR15784 Athens, Greece

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 12, 1-25

Abstract: There is no doubt that global climate change is happening and affecting life on Earth in a variety of ways. It can be seen on the extreme events of natural disasters, prolonged periods of drought, and increased summer and annual temperatures. While climate change affects every place on Earth, the Mediterranean region is considered a hot spot of climate change. Temperature is expected to increase further, precipitation, especially during summer months, is expected to decrease, and extreme rainfall events are projected to increase. These projected changes will affect both continental and insular environments, with small islands being particularly vulnerable due to the lack of space for species to move into more favorable conditions. As a result, these environments need to be studied, the changes quantified, and the consequences monitored. The current study focuses on the island of Fournoi in the central eastern part of the Aegean Sea. We employed data from a local meteorological station, which operates for a limited period, the Climate Research Unit TS data, and remote sensing thermal data to monitor the trends in aridity over a period of almost 40 years. The results show that summer temperature has increased significantly over the last 40 years, and this is confirmed by both meteorological and remote sensing data. At the same time, precipitation seems to remain stable. Despite the increased aridity imposed by the increased temperature and stable precipitation, vegetation seems not to be experiencing extreme stress. On the contrary, it seems to be following a positive trend over the study period. This observation is explained by the extreme resilience of the plant species of the study area and the fact that vegetation has been recovering over the last 50 years after a period of human overexploitation, and this recovery overcomes the stress imposed by increased aridity.

Keywords: vegetation condition index; temperature condition index; Landsat; CRU TS; NDVI; LST; small islands; drought; aridity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:12:p:2129-:d:1539219

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