Deterioration risk of dryland earthen heritage sites facing future climatic uncertainty.

ABSTRACT: Uncertainties over future climatic conditions pose significant challenges when selecting appropriate conservation strategies for heritage sites. Choosing effective strategies is especially important for earthen heritage sites located in dryland regions, as many are experiencing rapid environmentally-driven deterioration. We use a newly developed cellular automaton model (ViSTA-HD), to evaluate the environmental deterioration risk, over a 100-year period, under a range of potential climate and conservation scenarios. Results show increased wind velocities could substantially increase the overall deterioration risk, implying the need for wind-reducing conservation strategies. In contrast, predicted increases in rainfall are not likely to increase the overall deterioration risk, despite great

SUBMITTER: Richards J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7532530 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature