Soil aridity under climate change and implications for agriculture in Italy

Abstract

A comprehensive temporal analysis of precipitation and temperature regimes from 
\n1951 to 2010 has been carried out at a national and regional scale in Italy to 
\ninvestigate the impact of climate aridity on the agricultural system. Trends in 
\nclimate aridity have also been analyzed using the UNEP aridity index, which is 
\nthe ratio of rainfall to reference evapotranspiration on a yearly basis. During the 
\ntime period examined, and particularly in the most recent years, a gradual 
\nreduction in rainfall and increase in temperature have been observed, which 
\nfurther widened the gap between precipitation and agricultural water demand