Abstract
Climate change is one of the most important challenges facing watersheds. In this study, the effects of climate change in the Karkheh River Basin (KRB), located in the Iranian plateau, have been investigated. The temperature and precipitation, as significant climatic parameters, have been investigated using the observed data (1980–2017), as a baseline period, and the projected data (2020–2090) which can be regarded as the output of the Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) model based on RCP8.5 and RCP4.5 scenarios. The status of the snow cover changes was evaluated using MODIS TERRA satellite sensors. The results show that there has been a downward trend in the precipitation amount in most of the KRB, at 95% confidence level. The projected results also show that the amount of annual precipitation will decrease with the deviation from the baseline period. According to RCP8.5 and RCP4.5 scenarios, the amount of annual precipitation will decrease by 88.2 and 56.1 mm, respectively, as compared with the baseline period. Moreover, the air temperature trend in the future period will be increased by deviation from the baseline period. Thus, by the end of this century and according to RCP8.5 and RCP4.5 scenarios, the minimum temperatures will rise by 4.5 and 2.5 °C, respectively. Evaluation of the snow cover status of the study area, based on the MODIS sensor over the last two decades, shows that the amount of snow covers has been decreasing, reflecting global warming in recent years. Therefore, long-term planning and water resources management, considering the climate change condition, are considered significant in this basin.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbaspour KC, Faramarzi M, Ghasemi SS, Yang H (2009) Assessing the impact of climate change on water resources in Iran. Water Resour Res 45(10):1–16. https://doi.org/10.1029/2008WR007615
Ahmadi H, Ahmadi F (2017) Mapping thermal comfort in Iran based on geostatistical methods and bioclimatic indices. Arab J Geosci 10:342. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-017-3129-3
Ahmadi H, Ghalhari GF, Baaghideh M (2019a) Impacts of climate change on apple tree cultivation areas in Iran. Clim Chang 153(1–2):91–103
Ahmadi M, Motamedvaziri B, Ahmadi H, Moeini A, Zehtabiyan GR (2019b) Assessment of climate change impact on surface runoff, statistical downscaling and hydrological modeling. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C 114:102800
Alexandersson H (1986) A homogeneity test applied to precipitation data. J Climatol 6(6):661–675
Alijani B, Brien JO, Yarnal B (2008) Spatial analysis of precipitation intensity and concentration in Iran. Theor Appl Climatol 94(1–2):107–124
Apurv T, Mehrotra R, Sharma A, Kumar Goyal M, Dutta S (2015) Impact of climate change on floods in the Brahmaputra basin using CMIP5 decadal prediction. J Hydrol 527:281–291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.04.056
Ashraf Vaghefi S, Mousavi SJ, Abbaspour KC, Srinivasan R, Yang H (2014) Analyses of the impact of climate change on water resources components, drought and wheat yield in semiarid regions: Karkheh River Basin in Iran. Hydrol Process 28(4):2018–2032
Atkinson PM, Lioyd CD (1998) Mapping precipitation in Switzerland with ordinary and indicator kriging. Special issue: Spatial Interpolation Comparison 97. J Geogr Inf Decis Anal 2(1–2):72–86
Babaeian I, Karimian M, Modirian R, Mirzaei E (2019) Future climate change projection over Iran using CMIP5 data during 2020-2100. NIVAR, 43(104-105):61-70. https://doi.org/10.30467/nivar.2019.142745.1103
Barnes WL, Xiong X, Salomonson VV (2003) Status of terra MODIS and aqua MODIS. Advances in Space Research, 32(11):2099-2106. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0273-1177(03)90529-1
Bhatta B, Shrestha S, Shrestha PK, Talchabhadel R (2019) Evaluation and application of a SWAT model to assess the climate change impact on the hydrology of the Himalayan river basin. Catena, 181:1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2019.104082
Buishand TA (1982) Some methods for testing the homogeneity of rainfall records. J Hydrol 58(1–2):11–27
Cannarozzo M, Noto LV, Viola F (2006) Spatial distribution of rainfall trends in Sicily (1921–2000), Phys Chem Earth, 31(18):1201–1211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2006.03.022
Choubin B, Solaimani K, Rezanezhad F, Roshan MH, Malekian A, Shamshirband S (2019) Streamflow regionalization using a similarity approach in ungauged basins: application of the geo-environmental signatures in the Karkheh River Basin, Iran. Catena 182:104128
Cohen J (1994) Snow cover and climate. Weather, 49(5):150-156. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1477-8696.1994.tb05997.x
Dadashi-Roudbari A, Ahmadi M (2020) Evaluating temporal and spatial variability and trend of aerosol optical depth (550 nm) over Iran using data from MODIS on board the Terra and Aqua satellites. Arab J Geosci 13(6):1–23
Davini P, D’Andrea F (2016) Northern hemisphere atmospheric blocking representation in global climate models: twenty years of improvements? J Clim 29(24):8823–8840
Del Río S, Herrero L, Pinto-Gomes C, Penas A (2011) Spatial analysis of mean temperature trends in Spain over the period 1961–2006. Glob Planet Chang, 78(1-2):65–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2011.05.012
Dell’Aquila A, Mariotti A, Bastin S, Calmanti S, Cavicchia L, Deque M, Djurdjevic V, Dominguez M, Gaertner M, Gualdi S (2018) Evaluation of simulated decadal variations over the Euro-Mediterranean region from ENSEMBLES to Med-CORDEX. Clim Dyn 51(3):857–876
Deng H, Luo Y, Yao Y, Liu C (2013) Spring and summer precipitation changes from 1880 to 2011 and the future projections from CMIP5 in the Yangtze River basin, China. Quat Int, 304:95-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.03.036
Dingman SL, Seely-Reynolds DM, Reynolds RC (1998) Application of kriging to estimating mean annual precipitation in a region of orographic influence 1. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association 24(2):329–339. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-1688.1988.tb02991.x
Duhan D, Pandey A (2013) Statistical analysis of long term spatial and temporal trends of precipitation during 1901–2002 at Madhya Pradesh, India. Atmos Res 122:136–149
Dunne JP, John JG, Adcroft AJ, Griffies SM, Hallberg RW, Shevliakova E et al (2012) GFDL’s ESM2 global coupled climate–carbon earth system models. Part I: physical formulation and baseline simulation characteristics. J Clim 25(19):6646–6665
Dunne JP, John JG, Shevliakova E, Stouffer RJ, Krasting JP, Malyshev SL et al (2013) GFDL’s ESM2 global coupled climate–carbon earth system models. Part II: carbon system formulation and baseline simulation characteristics. J Clim 26(7):2247–2267
Emami F, Koch M (2019) Modeling the impact of climate change on water availability in the Zarrine River Basin and inflow to the Boukan Dam, Iran. Climate 7(4):51
Eslamian S, Gilroy KL, McCuen RH (2011) Climate change detection and modeling in hydrology. In book: Climate change—research and technology for adaptation and mitigation In Tech p 87–100. https://doi.org/10.5772/24550
Fallah-Ghalhari G, Shakeri F, Dadashi-Roudbari A (2019) Impacts of climate changes on the maximum and minimum temperature in Iran. Theor Appl Climatol 138(3–4):1539–1562
Farajzadeh M, Madani Larijani K, Massah Bevani A, Davtalab R (2014) Climate change effects on reliability of water delivery in downstream of Karkheh river basin and its adaptation strategies. Journal of Soil and Water resources Conservation 3(3):49–63
Farsani IF, Farzaneh MR, Besalatpour AA, Salehi MH, Faramarzi M (2019) Assessment of the impact of climate change on spatiotemporal variability of blue and green water resources under CMIP3 and CMIP5 models in a highly mountainous watershed. Theor Appl Climatol 136(1–2):169–184
Ficklin DL, Stewart IT, Maurer EP (2013) Climate change impacts on Streamflow and subbasin-scale hydrology in the Upper Colorado River Basin. PLoS One 8(8):e71297. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0071297
Fu G, Charles SP, Chiew FHS (2007) A two-parameter climate elasticity of streamflow index to assess climate change effects on annual streamflow. Water Resour Res, 43(11):1-12. https://doi.org/10.1029/2007WR005890
Gebrechorkos SH, Bernhofer C, Hulsmann S (2019) Impact of projected change in climate on water balance in basins of East Africa. Sci Total Environ, 682:160-170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.05.053
Gohari A, Eslamian S, Abedi Koupaei J, Massah Bavani A, Wang D, Madani K (2013) Climate change impacts on crop production in Iran’s Ayandeh-Rud River Basin. Sci Total Environ, 442:405–419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.10.029
Guilyardi E, Cai W, Collins M, Fedorov A, Jin FF, Kumar A, Sun DZ, Wittenberg A (2012) New strategies for evaluating ENSO processes in climate models. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 93(2):235–238
Immerzeel WW, Droogers P, De Jong SM, Bierkens MFP (2009) Large-scale monitoring of snow cover and runoff simulation in Himalayan river basins using remote sensing. Remote Sens Environ, 113(1):40–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2008.08.010
IPCC (2007) Climate change, Impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability: working group II contribution to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change, summary for policymakers. IPCC Secretariat Geneva, 22 p
IWPCO (Iran Water and Power Resources Development Company) (2019) Karkheh Project. http://en.iwpco.ir/Karkhe/default.aspx
Jamali S (2014) Hydropower vulnerability assessment in the face of climate change impacts case study: Karkheh River Basin. Dam and Hydroelectric Powerplant 1(2):25–37
Ji Z, Kang S (2012) Projection of snow cover changes over China under RCP scenarios. Clim Dyn 41(3–4):589–600. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-012-1473-2
Justice CO, Vermote E, Townshend JRG, Defries R, Roy DP, Hall DK, Lucht W et al (1998) The moderate resolution imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS): Land remote sensing for global change research. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote Sens 36(4):1228–1249. https://doi.org/10.1109/36.701075
Kamali B, Houshmand Kouchi D, Yang H, Abbaspour KC (2017) Multilevel drought hazard assessment under climate change scenarios in semi-arid regions—a case study of the Karkheh river basin in Iran. Water 9(4):241
Karimi, M., Melesse, A. M., Khosravi, K., Mamuye, M., & Zhang, J. (2019). Analysis and prediction of meteorological drought using SPI index and ARIMA model in the Karkheh River Basin, Iran. In Extreme Hydrology and Climate Variability (pp. 343-353). Elsevier
Karl TR, Groisman PY, Knight RW, Heim RR Jr (1993) Recent variations of snow cover and snowfall in North America and their relation to precipitation and temperature variations. J Clim 6(7):1327–1344
Kavia A, Namdar M, Golshan M, Bahri M (2017) Hydrological modeling of climate changes impact on flow discharge in Haraz River Basin. Journal of Natural Environmental Hazards 6(12):89–104
Kendall, M. G. (1955). Rank correlation methods
Kundu SK, Mondal TK (2019) Analysis of long-term rainfall trends and change point in West Bengal, India. Theor Appl Climatol 138(3–4):1647–1666
Lobanova A, Liersch S, Nunes JP, Didovets I, et al (2018) Hydrological impacts of moderate and high-end climate change across European river basins. Journal of Hydrology: Reg Stud, 18:15–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2018.05.003
Mann HB (1945) Nonparametric tests against trend. Journal of the Econometric Society, Econometrica, pp 245–259
Masoodian SA, Darand M, Nazemi Fard G (2019) Analysis of Iran’s thermal seasons and variation during last decades. Geography and Development Iranian Journal, 17(55):45–62. https://doi.org/10.22111/gdij.2019.4578
Panthou G, Vrac M, Drobinski P, Bastin S, Li L (2018) Impact of model resolution and Mediterranean Sea coupling on hydrometeorological extremes in RCMs in the frame of HyMeX and MED-CORDEX. Clim Dyn 51(3):915–932
Raziei T, Daneshkar Arasteh P, Saghafian B (2005) Annual rainfall trend in arid and semi – arid region of Iran. In ICID 21st European Regional Conference, Frankfurt (Oder) and Slubice - Germany and Poland, 15–19 May
Riggs GA, Hall DK (2015) MODIS snow products collection 6 user guide. National Snow & Ice Data Center
Ruti PM, Somot S, Giorgi F, Dubois C, Flaounas E, Obermann A et al (2016) MED-CORDEX initiative for Mediterranean climate studies. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 97(7):1187–1208
Sahin S, Cigizoglu HK (2010) Homogeneity analysis of Turkish meteorological data set. Hydrological Processes: An International Journal 24(8):981–992
Sarzaeim P, Bozorg-Haddad O, Fallah-Mehdipour E, Loáiciga HA (2017) Climate change outlook for water resources management in a semiarid river basin: the effect of the environmental water demand. Environ Earth Sci 76(14):498
Savtchenko A, Ouzounov D, Ahmad S, Acker J, Leptoukh G, Koziana J, Nickless D (2004) Terra and Aqua MODIS products available from NASA GES DAAC. Adv Space Res, 34(4):710-714. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2004.03.012
Shivam Goyal MK, Sarma AK (2017) Analysis of the change in temperature trends in Subansiri River basin for RCP scenarios using CMIP5 datasets. Theor Appl Climatol 129(3-4):1175–1187. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-016-1842-6
Shrestha S, Bajracharya AR, Bable MS (2016) Assessment of risks due to climate change for the Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project in Nepal. Clim Risk Manag, 14:27–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2016.08.002
Smiatek G, Kunstmann H (2016) Expected future runoff of the Upper Jordan River simulated with a CORDEX climate data ensemble. J Hydrometeorol 17(3):865–879
Tabari H, Samee BS, Rezaeian Zadeh M (2011) Testing for long – term trends in climatic variables in Iran. Atmos Res, 100(1):132-140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2011.01.005
Tramblay Y, Ruelland D, Somot S, Bouaicha R, Servat E (2013) High-resolution med-cordex regional climate model simulations for hydrological impact studies: a first evaluation in Morocco. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci Discuss 10(5):5687–5737
Vahdati K, Massah Bavani AR, Khosh-Khui M, Fakour P, Sarikhani S (2019) Applying the AOGCM-AR5 models to the assessments of land suitability for walnut cultivation in response to climate change: a case study of Iran. PLoS One, 14(6):e0218725. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218725
Van Leeuwen WJ, Davison JE, Casady GM, Marsh SE (2010) Phenological characterization of desert sky island vegetation communities with remotely sensed and climate time series data. Remote Sens 2(2):388–415
Wilcke RAI, Mendlik T, Gobiet A (2013) Multi-variable error correction of regional climate models. Climate Change 120(4):871–887
Xiong X, Chiang K, Sun J, Barnes WL, Guenther B, Salomonson VV (2009) NASA EOS Terra and Aqua MODIS on-orbit performance. Adv Space Res, 43(3):413-422. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2008.04.008
Xu C-Y, Gong L, Jiang T, Chen D, Singh VP (2006) Analysis of spatial distribution and temporal trend of reference evapotranspiration in Changjiang (Yangtze River) catchment. J Hydrol, 327(1-2):81–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2005.11.029
Zhang Q, Xu C-Y, Zhang Z, Chen YD, Liu C-L, Lin H (2008) Spatial and temporal variability of precipitation maxima during 1960–2005 in the Yangtze River basin and possible association with large-scale circulation. J Hydrol, 353(3-4):215–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2007.11.023
Zhang A, Zhang C, Fu G, Wang B, Bao Z, Zheng H (2012) Assessments of impacts of climate change and human activities on runoff with SWAT for the Huifa River Basin, Northeast China. Water Resour Manag 26(8):2199–2217. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-012-0010-8
Zohrabi N, Goodarzi E, Bavani AM, Najafi H (2017) Detection and attribution of climate change at regional scale: case study of Karkheh river basin in the west of Iran. Theor Appl Climatol 130(3–4):1007–1020
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the Meteorological Organization and the Ministry of Energy of the Islamic Republic of Iran for providing the necessary data and information. We are grateful to anonymous reviewers who made very important comments to improve this work. We also acknowledge the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) mission scientists and associated World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) personnel for the production of the data used in this research effort.
Funding
This study is supported by the Integrated Watershed Management Research Core of Ilam University, Iran.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ahmadi, H., Rostami, N. & Dadashi-roudbari, A. Projected climate change in the Karkheh Basin, Iran, based on CORDEX models. Theor Appl Climatol 142, 661–673 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-020-03335-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-020-03335-9