Dry spells are a creeping, slow onset natural hazard, which can manifest themselves through a lack of rainfall, a lack of available soil moisture for crops, a reduction of streamflows below a critical threshold, a reduction in the amount of…
Evaporation is controlled by three atmospheric conditions: The capacity of air to take up water vapour. This increases rapidly at higher temperatures and at lower relative humidity (RH) of the air. The amount of energy available for the process of…
Mean annual temperature (MAT, in °C) represents the very broadest of indices of the environmental status of a location. Although it integrates and smooths the effects of diurnal, monthly and seasonal patterns of maximum and minimum temperatures, it is nevertheless…
Solar radiation for any given location and time of year and day is influenced by five factors: astronomical; geographical (latitude and altitude); physical (scattering of solar radiation by atmospheric pollutants/aerosols and absorption mainly by water vapour); geometric (solar altitude and…