Climate Aridity: The Sultanate of Oman as a Case Study

Abstract

A comprehensive diachronic analysis (2004–2013) of precipitation and temperature regimes has been carried out at the national scale in the Sultanate of Oman (Oman), to investigate the impact of climate aridity on the vegetation system. In addition, trends in climate aridity have been analyzed using UNEP aridity index which is the ratio between rainfall and potential evapotranspiration on a yearly basis. During the examined time period, and particularly in the most recent years, a gradual reduction in rainfall and growing temperatures have been observed which have further widened the gap between precipitation amounts and water demand in vegetation.