Progress in the study of oasis-desert interactions

Within arid and semi-arid regions, deserts and oases generally act as the landscape matrix and mosaic, respectively. Oasis-desert interactions, i.e., the transport of mass and energy between the two, are very important for the stable co-existence of oasis and desert ecosystems. In recent decades, great progress has been made to advance our understanding of oasis-desert interactions. In this preface, we provide an overview of oasis-desert interaction studies available in the literature and our current understanding of the limitations and challenges of these studies. Future foci can be multiple-scale, high-accuracy observing matrices and seamless simulations from mesoscale circulations to large eddies, which are crucial for understanding small-scale structures of energy and water exchange and their connection with oasis desert interaction. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.