Projecting the impacts of climate change on the wind erosion potential using an ensemble of GCMs in Hormozgan Coastal plains, Iran.

Abstract

Wind erosion is one of the most critical problems in arid and semi-arid regions. The wind transports only dry soil, and no soil with a wet surface can be moved. The study aimed to investigate the changes in wind erosion potential in the coastal plains of Hormozgan province, Iran. Data from four synoptic stations from 1988 to 2017, as well as outputs from four climate models, namely HadGEM-2-CC, CSIRO-MK3- 6-0, ACCESS1-3 and CNRM-CM5, based on two Representative Concentration Pathways, RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5, were used for the analysis. The outputs of climate models were ensembled and downscaled using the Change Factor statistical downscaling method. The downscaled data showed good accuracy in representing the large-scale GCM data. Furthermore, the "Potential of Wind Erosion Occurrence" was calculated for monthly and annual time scales using the Mann-Kendall nonparametric trend test. The results indicated that there were no significant trends in wind erosion occurrence during the base period (i.e., 1988 to 2017). However, it was projected that the "potential for wind erosion occurrence" and the "percentage of windy days associated with drought" would increase in the near future (i.e., 2031 to 2060) under both Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5). Interestingly, both scenarios showed a decreasing trend in wind erosion occurrence in the far future (i.e., 2071 to 2100). This suggests that changes in wind patterns play a significant role in shaping wind erosion potential, while daily precipitation does not have a significant impact on this trend.