arid areas are characterized by low precipitation and high evaporation rate, where water resources are under critical pressure due to growing population and associated anthropogenic activities. in arid areas, surface water is scarce and groundwater is usually the only available natural water resource for agricultural and domestic use. in coastal arid areas, the aquifers are particularly vulnerable to excessive storage depletion and rapid salinization. non-conventional water resources (treated waste water and desalination) are now integrated with dwindling natural ones for smart farm-, house-hold-, community-, urban-, industrial- and other types of management. 

　　desalination of seawater may supplement insufficient water supply for drinking purposes and desalination of brackish water is also becoming popular mainly to provide water for irrigation. 

　　the purpose of this special issue is to promote state-of-the-art knowledge, propagate the latest technological advances, and bring together methods and solutions in addressing water issues in arid areas. 

　　the topics of articles include but are not limited to the following: 

　　1.subsurface hydrology, with a focus on dynamics of moisture and groundwater and contaminants in the top soils, vadoze zone and aquifers. novel solutions and methods in mitigation of problems of fresh water deficit: managed aquifer recharge, harvesting of storm water after flashfloods, barriers for combatting seawater intrusion, etc.  

　　2.degradation of agricultural soils and water sources, highlighting adequate irrigation practices, recuperation of sites subject to secondary salinization, modern techniques of enhancing the water use efficiency.  

　　3.climate change and water resources, addressing, in particular, the trends of precipitation-evapotranspiration-temperature affecting subsurface water storage, groundwater recharge,  hydroecology of biomes in deserts and semi-deserts. 

　　4.water socio-economics, with an emphasis on optimization of utilization of scarce water resources from the perspective of water and food security under specific financial and technical constraints.  

　　the journal of arid land is an international peer-reviewed journal co-sponsored by xinjiang institute of ecology and geography, chinese academy of sciences, science press and china society of natural resources.  

　　the journal covers such topics as the dynamics of natural resources (including water, soil and land, organism and climate), the security and sustainable development of natural resources, and the environment and the ecology in arid and semi-arid lands, especially in central asia. coverage extends to interactions among the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and lithosphere, and relationships between these natural processes and human activities. the journal also discusses the patterns of geography, ecology and environment; ecological improvement and environmental protection; and regional responses and feedback mechanisms. 

　　dr. ali al-maktoumi, director, water research center, sultan qaboos university, oman 

　　dr. mingjie chen, water research center, sultan qaboos university, oman 

　　prof. anvar kacimov, department of soils, water and agricultural engineering, college of agricultural and marine sciences, sultan qaboos university, oman 

　　dr. yang yu, xinjiang institute of ecology and geography, chinese academy of sciences, china 

　　dr. ye tuo, chair of hydrology and river basin management, technical university of munich, germany 

　　please carefully read and follow the instructions for authors which you may find online at 

　　before submitting your paper, you will need to create a user account and then submit all relevant files online at 

　　manuscripts can be submitted during the following time frame: 

　　opening: 01 january 2020 

　　deadline: 30 june 2020