Abstract
Climate has a potential strong influence on the soil forming processes of Italy. The elongated shape of the Italian peninsula, stretching along 11 parallels in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and the presence of two morphological barriers, the Alps and the Apennines, cause great local climatic variations. Actually, in Italy, authors recognized 14 of the 35 climatic regions occurring in Europe. Average climatic conditions are temperate, in particular, long-term mean annual air temperature (MAT) is 12.6 (°C) and total annual precipitation (MAP) 932.5 mm, but variations are much more important than means, in fact, they span about 30 °C and 1,800 mm. The degree of continentality, that is, the difference between summer and winter temperature is on average more than 15 °C, but it reaches more than 17 °C in the Po Plain. Seasonality of the precipitations, that is, the difference between the amount of long-term rainfall fallen in the most and in the least rainy months, proportioned to the total long-term annual rainfall, is on average 11 % and more pronounced in the southern regions. Mean long-term potential evapotranspiration is 1,002 mm, ranging from around 600 mm in the Alps and the Northern Apennines to more than 1,300 mm in some parts of Apulia, Sicily and Sardinia. As a result, climatic deficit dominates Italy. The ustic soil moisture regime is the relatively most widespread udometric regime, while the udic regime dominates the Alps and the Apennines chains, and xeric and dry xeric are well correlated with lands with the highest aridity. The mesic soil temperature regime dominates most part of the country, but the thermic regime dominates southern Italy. The frigid and cryic regimes are present in large areas of the Alps and the Apennines. A general climatic change occurred in Italy in the period 1961–2000, with a general reduction in mean total annual precipitation (MAP) and number of rainy days, and a general increase in mean air temperature (MAT). The climate change had a general low influence on soil organic carbon variations. Nevertheless, the relatively higher climatic influence occurred in meadows and in arable lands with a moderate or high MAP decrease (<−100 mm/y) and a moderate to high MAT increase (>0.62 °C). The decreasing SOC content of lands with increasing hot and arid climate could be a soil indicator of the consequences of the extension of the Mediterranean subtropical climatic regions in Italy.
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Notes
- 1.
Google Earth view.
- 2.
ArcGlobe data.
- 3.
Ascent of moist air is responsible for the enhancement or formation of stau cloudiness along the mountain slope.
- 4.
The map was obtained using the regression kriging method (MLRA) to spatialize long-term mean annual temperature data (MAT) of 1,086 meteorological station. A linear model was defined in which mean annual temperature was related to elevation and latitude (adjusted R-squared: 0.6613, p value: <2.2e-16). The model was applied by means of a raster calculation (MLRA grid). MLRA prediction errors (difference between predicted and measured values) were then interpolated by ordinary kriging and subtracted from MLRA grid. Differences between legend classes are larger than standard errors.
- 5.
The map was obtained with an ordinary kriging interpolation of the difference between summer and winter air temperature of 1,086 stations. Differences between legend classes are larger than standard errors.
- 6.
The simple kriging prediction map was obtained by interpolating the mean annual precipitation of 2,200 stations. Differences between legend classes are larger than the standard errors.
- 7.
The ordinary kriging prediction map was obtained by interpolating the values of Fournier index of 1,546 meteorological stations. Differences between legend classes are larger than the standard errors.
- 8.
The map was obtained by computation of raster datasets of mean summer, winter and annual precipitation. The rasters of mean summer and winter precipitation were the ordinary kriging prediction maps of 1,297 stations. Differences between legend classes are larger than the standard errors.
- 9.
Mean values of 544 cells (ETo according to FAO Penman–Monteith; Perini et al. 2004). Differences between legend classes are larger than the standard errors.
- 10.
The map was obtained from the raster datasets of annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration. Differences between legend classes are larger than the standard errors.
- 11.
The map of the “Soil Regions of the European Union and Adjacent Countries 1:5,000,000 (Version 2.0)” is published by the Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), in partnership with the Joint Research Center (JRC, Ispra).
- 12.
The Mediterranean to warm temperate oceanic climate is present in Portugal but not in Italy.
- 13.
The soil moisture control section makes reference to the upper part of the soil, where roots of herbaceous species concentrate. SAI (days/year) = 44.532605 + [mean annual air temperature] × 7.310365 − [rainfall] × 0.061497 − [cumulative available water up to 50 cm, in mm] × 0.229448.
- 14.
Soil temperature was calculated in function of the mean annual air temperature and soil water content at field capacity (see note 15).
- 15.
The map was obtained from raster datasets of field capacity (FC) at 50 cm depth (not shown in this atlas) and long-term mean annual air temperatures. The first raster was obtained by geographical join of FC values of 18,449 soil sites to land components (features belonging to different soil region and with different lithology, land use and physiography) obtained from a 500 m grid and other databases. MST = [mean annual air temperature] + (([FC] × 100) − 20.7)/7.9. Frigid–cryic regime makes reference to both annual and summer mean air temperatures.
- 16.
Elaboration conducted on the national meteorological grid (Perini et al. 2004).
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Acknowledgments
The Authors acknowledge the contribution of Michele Freppaz, University of Turin, for the useful comments and information on soils and climates of the Alps.
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Costantini, E.A.C., Fantappié, M., L’Abate, G. (2013). Climate and Pedoclimate of Italy. In: Costantini, E., Dazzi, C. (eds) The Soils of Italy. World Soils Book Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5642-7_2
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