Recent Climate Change in Western Black Sea Region of Turkey by Paleoclimatic Reconstruction of Borehole Temperatures

Abstract

Abstract The impact of recent climate change varies around the world and understanding the regional variations is important for making accurate deductions and generating future climate predictions and mitigation plans. Borehole temperature reconstruction is one of the common methods to determine the ground surface temperature (GST) history of a region. In this study, high-precision (<0.01 K) borehole temperature-depth data from five different locations in Western Black Sea Region of Turkey were used for reconstruction of the ground surface temperature changes for the last century. Measurement sites are located in rural areas so the results are free from the urban heat island interference. The reconstructions reveal that ground surface temperatures have risen by an average of 0.91 °C in the study area during the last century. Results from inland sites show cooling of 0.24°C until 1975 and 0.99°C warming since then. The results in the coastal area show no such cooling period. The rapid warming trend in the last three decades revealed by GST reconstructions indicates high sensitivity of the region to present-day global warming.