Climate zoning under climate change scenarios in the basin of Lake Urmia and in vicinity basins

A study of climate change scenarios is presented in this paper by projecting the model of recorded precipitation/temperature data into three future periods by statistical downscaling methods through LARS-WG with data from 7 synoptic stations. The study area largely spans the closed basin of Lake Urmia with overlaps to some of the surrounding basins. The model is at two stages (the downscaling stage comprises the following: (i) it uses large-scale GCM models to provide climate variables (predictors), and (ii) the outcomes are downscaled to the local climatic variables for correlating with the observed time series (e.g. rainfall) for the period of T0, 1961-2001-40 years; the projecting stage comprises the derived precipitation/temperature values at T0 to T1: 2011-2030; T2: 2046-2065; and T3: 2080-2099 periods at synoptic stations using three standard scenarios of A1B, A2, and B1). The outputs are used to map the climate zones, which show the following: (i) climates at T1 are still similar to T0, and if there is any declining trend in precipitation during both periods, they are small to the extent that the shrinkage of Lake Urmia is unlikely to be driven by climate change; (ii) changes are likely at T2 and T3 periods including climatic regimes may turn peakier at the northern and drier at central regions; and (iii) precipitation is likely to decrease in some of the zones at T2 and T3 periods. This underpins the need for more responsive policymaking, and should this not be realised in the near future, the prospect seems bleak in terms of serious damages to Lake Urmia, depleting aquifers and subsequent immigration from the region, but can be averted by responsive planning.