Xerokampos, Greece's hot desert

[southathens]

I am just curious what kind of vegetation can possibly grow over there.

Btw the Greek toponym of Xerokampos literally means ''dry plain''.

 

Abstract

This research paper analyzes the spatial distribution of precipitation and the microclimate of the coastal enclave of Xerokampos, Lasithi, providing strong evidence for the area's classification under the Hot Desert climate type (Köppen: BWh). The study utilizes primary data from a network of homogeneous meteorological stations, comparing the Xerokampos time series (2020–2026) with the reference stations of Ierapetra and Toplou Monastery (Kotroni et al., 2020). While the broader eastern coastline records a mean annual precipitation of over 330.0 mm (Ierapetra: 363.2 mm, Toplou: 337.2 mm), Xerokampos is limited to 219.0 mm, with a mean annual temperature reaching 20.9°C (USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 11a) (Magarey et al., 2008). The mathematical extrapolation of historical data from the 1915-1929 period (Mariolopoulos, 1938) indicates an estimated historical precipitation of 148.7 mm for Xerokampos, highlighting its long-term, hyper-arid character. Combined with the extreme precipitation drop during the 2023-2025 triennium (averaging 119.4 mm), the thermodynamics of descending winds (Foehn) (Whiteman, 2000), and the dominance of xerophytic vegetation (Nobel, 1994), strong evidence is provided for the existence of a structural desert zone (BWh) that is clearly distinguished from the neighboring semi-arid (BSh) environment (Peel et al., 2007). These findings align with the official recognition by the Sitia UNESCO Global Geopark of the semi-desert climate and the presence of North African flora in the adjacent maritime zone (Koufonisi, Kavalloi islets). Simultaneously, the application of the Holdridge Life Zones bioclimatic system further certifies this identity, as the extreme Potential Evapotranspiration Ratio (PET Ratio) definitively classifies the enclave as a "Subtropical Desert Scrub" (Holdridge, 1947).

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19439067

[southathens]

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19441891

[southathens]

Found the updated version of the paper

Abstract

This research paper analyzes the spatial distribution of precipitation and the microclimate of the coastal enclave of Xerokampos, Lasithi, providing strong evidence for the area's classification under the Hot Desert climate type (Köppen: BWh). The study utilizes primary data from a network of homogeneous meteorological stations, comparing the Xerokampos time series (2020–2026) with the reference stations of Ierapetra and Toplou Monastery (Kotroni et al., 2020). While the broader eastern coastline records a mean annual precipitation of over 330.0 mm (Ierapetra: 363.2 mm, Toplou: 337.2 mm), Xerokampos is limited to 219.0 mm, with a mean annual temperature reaching 20.9°C (USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 11a) (Magarey et al., 2008). The mathematical extrapolation of historical data from the 1915-1929 period (Mariolopoulos, 1938) indicates an estimated historical precipitation of 148.7 mm for Xerokampos, highlighting its long-term, hyper-arid character. The statistical synthesis of these data with contemporary records establishes a synthetic mean of 168.8 mm for a 21-year sample, a value that falls 19% below the desertification threshold of 209.0 mm. Combined with the extreme precipitation drop during the 2023-2025 triennium (averaging 119.4 mm), the thermodynamics of descending winds (Foehn) (Whiteman, 2000), and the dominance of desert vegetation (Nobel, 1994), strong evidence is provided for the existence of a structural desert zone (BWh) that is clearly distinguished from the neighboring semi-arid (BSh) environment (Peel et al., 2007). These findings align with the official recognition by the Sitia UNESCO Global Geopark of the semi-desert climate and the presence of North African flora in the adjacent maritime zone (Koufonisi, Kavalloi islets). Simultaneously, the application of the Holdridge Life Zones bioclimatic system further certifies this identity, as the extreme Potential Evapotranspiration Ratio (PET Ratio) definitively classifies the enclave as a "Subtropical Desert Scrub" (Holdridge, 1947). The hyper-arid character is further confirmed by the classic De Martonne Aridity Index, which classifies Xerokampos from arid (I = 7.09) to extreme arid (I = 4.81).

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19488877

[southathens]

Below the full updated version in English! Enjoy!

Xerokampos: Perhaps the first desert biome in Greece

Abstract

The present research paper analyzes the spatial distribution of precipitation and the microclimate of the coastal enclave of Xerokampos, Lasithi, providing data that align with the criteria of the Hot Desert climate type (Köppen: BWh). The study utilizes secondary data from a network of homogeneous meteorological stations, comparing the time series of Xerokampos (2020-2026) with the reference stations of Ierapetra and Toplou Monastery (Kotroni et al., 2020). While the broader eastern coastline records an average annual precipitation of over 330.0 mm, Xerokampos is limited to 219.5 mm, with the mean annual temperature reaching 20.9 ◦C (USDA 11a). The desert identity of the area is examined through the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Aridity Index, which, with values of AI = 0.178 (Holdridge) and AI = 0.199 (Thornthwaite), classifies the area below the threshold of a true desert (0.20). This dynamic is attributed to the extreme Potential Evapotranspiration, which far exceeds precipitation inputs. To address the limited length of the contemporary time series (n=7 years), a Synthetic Climate Reconstruction model is applied. The mathematical reduction of historical data from 1915-1929 (Mariolopoulos, 1938) via the Rain Shadow Ratio (RSR), shapes a synthetic average of 171.2 mm (sample of 22 years), falling 18% below the desertification threshold (209.0 mm). The findings coincide with the Holdridge Life Zone System (Subtropical Desert Scrub) and the De Martonne Index (I = 4.81 to I = 7.10). Combined with the thermodynamics of katabatic winds (Foehn) and the dominance of desert vegetation, data are provided for the existence of a structural desert enclave, in alignment with the reports of the Sitia UNESCO Global Geopark.

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19498304

[southathens]

This is the stable link:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19438143

[southathens]

On 4/6/2026 at 5:40 PM, southathens said:

I am just curious what kind of vegetation can possibly grow over there.

Got it: 

Specifically, the presence of thermophilic and desert taxa, such as the African Ziziphus lotus, the Saharo-Arabian grass Lygeum spartum and Periploca angustifolia, acts as an undeniable bio-indicator of extreme xerothermic conditions (Turland et al., 1993; Rackham & Moody, 1996). The prevalence of such adaptations certifies the timeless stress of the ecosystem from the precipitation deficit (Eig, 1931), vertically differentiating the microclimate from the typical Mediterranean environment of the rest of Crete. This study provides, to our knowledge, the first quantitative evidence for a persistent rain-shadow desert microclimate in Greece.

 

[Gringo]

Extraordinary information and data. Southeastern Crete is definitely very different from rest of the island in terms of climate and this data shows why.  If investigated more it might be second desert area in Europe! This is amazing indeed.

[southathens]

On 4/18/2026 at 8:14 PM, Gringo said:

Extraordinary information and data. Southeastern Crete is definitely very different from rest of the island in terms of climate and this data shows why.  If investigated more it might be second desert area in Europe! This is amazing indeed.

Hello Gringo! Χαιρετίσματα στην πανέμορφη Πάφο!

You hit the nail on the head, and since you brought up the "second desert in Europe" hypothesis, let's look at the hard numbers. The comparison with southeastern Spain (Almería and Cabo de Gata) is inevitable, and mathematically, they are almost twins. Let's do a deep dive into the actual data: Almería and Cabo de Gata are famous for being Europe's reference points for desert climates. Cabo de Gata is historically cited as the driest spot in the Iberian Peninsula, with an average annual precipitation of roughly 150 mm to 170 mm. Almería Airport officially hovers right around 200 mm. With a mean annual temperature of roughly 19°C, their Köppen Hot Desert (BWh) threshold is 190 mm. This means Cabo de Gata is BWh, while Almería city dances right on the BSh/BWh line.

However, there is a massive catch with Spain: the official meteorological time series for Cabo de Gata is notoriously plagued with missing data and huge chronological gaps, making absolute long-term climatological normalizations a massive headache.

Now look at Xerokampos. Τhe in-situ Davis station (2020–2026) recorded 219.5 mm. But Xerokampos is significantly hotter, with a blistering mean annual temperature of 20.9°C. This pushes its BWh desert threshold up to 209.0 mm. That means Xerokampos is hovering a mere 10 mm above the strict absolute desert line! Basically Xerokampos is at the exact same proportional distance from the BWh climate as Almería, just with a much hotter baseline.

We just updated the research with deep ERA5 satellite data, and the findings are absolutely mind-blowing. Here is the exact breakdown of why this place is a structural anomaly:

1. We ran the historical reanalysis (1940–2026), and Xerokampos has seen a 9.5% precipitation drop in the last 30 years. But it gets crazier. For a continuous 15-year period (Feb 2004 to Dec 2018), the Mean Annual Precipitation locked in at exactly 208.02 mm. That means for 15 straight years, Xerokampos operated strictly as a BWh Hot Desert!

2. We finally proved why global models usually miss this micro-desert. Models like ERA5-Land use 9x9 km grid cells. Because the coastal strip is so narrow, the model accidentally averages the beach with the adjacent 753-meter high Ziros mountain, predicting a false 354.3 mm. But when we isolated the pure, undisturbed offshore marine cell right on the coastline (0m elevation), the model returned 212.0 mm! That is a less than 4% deviation from the station (219.5 mm). The coast literally behaves like the open sea.

3. The rain shadow here is brutal. As the air descends the Ziros mountain, it heats up rapidly (dry adiabatic lapse rate of ~9.8°C/km). We calculated that roughly 140.6 mm of rain per year evaporates in mid-air (virga) before it even hits the ground at Xerokampos.

4. To prove the orographic shield, we looked at extreme weather. During the catastrophic Storm Daniel in Sept 2023, the windward Toplou monastery recorded 64.6 mm. Xerokampos? A measly 3.6 mm. It received barely 5.5% of the regional rainfall because the mountain completely cut it off.

When you look at these numbers, the conclusion is unavoidable. Xerokampos isn't just dry; it is a topographically isolated, borderline desert microclimate. And it's not just the Ziziphus lotus telling us this. The ecosystem is uniquely adapted, hosting a suite of North African and Saharo-Arabian thermophilic flora, including the desert grass Lygeum spartum and the drought-resistant Periploca Angustifolia. The harsh sandy and saline soils of the local Alatsolimni (salt lake) complete this extreme xerothermic picture. Not to mention the sand dunes immediately west of Xerokampos or the fact that the Sitia UNESCO geopark officially characterizes the climate in Xerokampos as ''semi-desert''.

You are totally right, we might get a second hot desert in Europe provided the numbers hold up as the Davis station in Xerokampos expands its operation.

Here is the updated paper in English and Greek (I kinda helped methodologically but I chose not to be listed as an author):

Xerokampos desert EN.pdf

Xerokampos desert GR.pdf

[Gringo]

On 4/20/2026 at 8:58 PM, southathens said:

Hello Gringo! Χαιρετίσματα στην πανέμορφη Πάφο!

You hit the nail on the head, and since you brought up the "second desert in Europe" hypothesis, let's look at the hard numbers. The comparison with southeastern Spain (Almería and Cabo de Gata) is inevitable, and mathematically, they are almost twins. Let's do a deep dive into the actual data: Almería and Cabo de Gata are famous for being Europe's reference points for desert climates. Cabo de Gata is historically cited as the driest spot in the Iberian Peninsula, with an average annual precipitation of roughly 150 mm to 170 mm. Almería Airport officially hovers right around 200 mm. With a mean annual temperature of roughly 19°C, their Köppen Hot Desert (BWh) threshold is 190 mm. This means Cabo de Gata is BWh, while Almería city dances right on the BSh/BWh line.

However, there is a massive catch with Spain: the official meteorological time series for Cabo de Gata is notoriously plagued with missing data and huge chronological gaps, making absolute long-term climatological normalizations a massive headache.

Now look at Xerokampos. Τhe in-situ Davis station (2020–2026) recorded 219.5 mm. But Xerokampos is significantly hotter, with a blistering mean annual temperature of 20.9°C. This pushes its BWh desert threshold up to 209.0 mm. That means Xerokampos is hovering a mere 10 mm above the strict absolute desert line! Basically Xerokampos is at the exact same proportional distance from the BWh climate as Almería, just with a much hotter baseline.

We just updated the research with deep ERA5 satellite data, and the findings are absolutely mind-blowing. Here is the exact breakdown of why this place is a structural anomaly:

1. We ran the historical reanalysis (1940–2026), and Xerokampos has seen a 9.5% precipitation drop in the last 30 years. But it gets crazier. For a continuous 15-year period (Feb 2004 to Dec 2018), the Mean Annual Precipitation locked in at exactly 208.02 mm. That means for 15 straight years, Xerokampos operated strictly as a BWh Hot Desert!

2. We finally proved why global models usually miss this micro-desert. Models like ERA5-Land use 9x9 km grid cells. Because the coastal strip is so narrow, the model accidentally averages the beach with the adjacent 753-meter high Ziros mountain, predicting a false 354.3 mm. But when we isolated the pure, undisturbed offshore marine cell right on the coastline (0m elevation), the model returned 212.0 mm! That is a less than 4% deviation from the station (219.5 mm). The coast literally behaves like the open sea.

3. The rain shadow here is brutal. As the air descends the Ziros mountain, it heats up rapidly (dry adiabatic lapse rate of ~9.8°C/km). We calculated that roughly 140.6 mm of rain per year evaporates in mid-air (virga) before it even hits the ground at Xerokampos.

4. To prove the orographic shield, we looked at extreme weather. During the catastrophic Storm Daniel in Sept 2023, the windward Toplou monastery recorded 64.6 mm. Xerokampos? A measly 3.6 mm. It received barely 5.5% of the regional rainfall because the mountain completely cut it off.

When you look at these numbers, the conclusion is unavoidable. Xerokampos isn't just dry; it is a topographically isolated, borderline desert microclimate. And it's not just the Ziziphus lotus telling us this. The ecosystem is uniquely adapted, hosting a suite of North African and Saharo-Arabian thermophilic flora, including the desert grass Lygeum spartum and the drought-resistant Periploca Angustifolia. The harsh sandy and saline soils of the local Alatsolimni (salt lake) complete this extreme xerothermic picture. Not to mention the sand dunes immediately west of Xerokampos or the fact that the Sitia UNESCO geopark officially characterizes the climate in Xerokampos as ''semi-desert''.

You are totally right, we might get a second hot desert in Europe provided the numbers hold up as the Davis station in Xerokampos expands its operation.

Here is the updated paper in English and Greek (I kinda helped methodologically but I chose not to be listed as an author):

Xerokampos desert EN.pdf 5.6 MB · 7 downloads

Xerokampos desert GR.pdf 5.61 MB · 6 downloads

 

Thanks. I moved to Pervolia near Larnaca since last year btw.  

Very interesting indeed! Regarding Davis station expansion, that means that more automated stations will be installed in this particular area? If so, that would be quite a thing to follow, especially in winter months. 

I stayed in Crete whole summer few years back and remembered this area made me wonder if  Xerokampos so deserty because mountains facing sun directly or because of microclimate. Obviously, I know answer now. 

[southathens]

8 hours ago, Gringo said:

 

Thanks. I moved to Pervolia near Larnaca since last year btw.  

Very interesting indeed! Regarding Davis station expansion, that means that more automated stations will be installed in this particular area? If so, that would be quite a thing to follow, especially in winter months. 

I stayed in Crete whole summer few years back and remembered this area made me wonder if  Xerokampos so deserty because mountains facing sun directly or because of microclimate. Obviously, I know answer now. 

I hope NOA will be mobilised and they will decide to add stations in the Xerokampos enclave!

Seeing that the press in on to it then I guess they will need to seriously consider it.

Below some articles from the national press regarding the desert microclimate in Xerokampos

https://www.patris.gr/kriti/erimos-voreiou-afrikis-entopistike-stin-kriti-se-poio-simeio-tou-nisiou-entopizetai-thermiko-erimiko-klima-me-vroxes-molis-55/

https://www.haniotika-nea.gr/mikrokli-a-eri-oy-stin-kriti-gia-proti-fora-entopizetai-stin-ellada/

If you don't speak Greek try google translate and you should be fine!

[southathens]

A photo explanation of the rain shadow in Xerokampos from Chaniotika Nea newspaper. 

Unfortunately only in Greek but its relatively easy to infer.

[southathens]

Here the newspaper article its front page news!

[Mazat]

Great documentation—you're doing an excellent job southathens, I love and appreciate this kind of important information; it’s true on both a large and a small scale that different climate types and variations can arise due to geological conditions as well as, of course, vegetation and buildings. People can simply open their minds to these wonders, and yes, data from multiple weather stations underscore this trend even for the most skeptical, because a station measures what is actually happening there, and the Davis stations or other ventilated stations help to compile and confirm the results. We have a cfa subtropical climate in the community garden downstairs, and every visitor who was skeptical at first but then sees the facts is amazed afterward and acknowledges it.

[southathens]

On 4/29/2026 at 2:38 PM, Mazat said:

Great documentation—you're doing an excellent job southathens,

Thank u.

I mean I haven't done much. Mostly last minute advice on how to edit the paper before official journal submission. 

But yes I recently found out about the desert taxa in Xerokampos and I am amazed on how Greece was actually missing this microclimate systematically!

Here is an extract from the study

[Mazat]

I actually think you’ve brought facts to light because you have an open mind, whereas many people who just go with the flow systematically overlook them—and I don’t mean that disrespectfully; they’re entitled to do so 😁—but it’s precisely this kind of information that’s important for understanding just how diverse and complex nature is, We also have an area on Lake Walen near the village of Quinten that actually represents a climatic anomaly and is deliberately downplayed by government institutions, with well-known cities and destinations being favored when it comes to climate. Yet it’s extremely warm to hot there—almost a subtropical climate with very mild winters—which isn’t accurately portrayed. Furthermore, the biodiversity of animals and plants is vast.