Projected Future Changes in Extreme Climate Indices over Central Asia Using RegCM4.3.5

Abstract

This work projected future extreme climate indices’ changes over Central Asia (The Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment—CORDEX Region 8). Changes were calculated for 2071–2100 relative to 1971–2000. Climate simulations were obtained by downscaling the RegCM4.3.5 to 50 km resolution under RCP4.5 and 8.5 with HadGEM2-ES and MPI-ESM-MR. The results indicate that the Central Asian domain will experience warmer and more extreme temperatures with increasing radiative forcing. The annual lowest value of minimum daily temperature was simulated to increase remarkably, up to 8 degrees, especially in high latitudes, with a more than 12 degree increase projected over Siberia. A strong growth in the percentage of warm nights and an increase in the days of warm spells for the whole region, with a decrease in cold spell duration, are anticipated. Model results show an expected reduction of up to 30% in precipitation totals over the domain, except for the increased precipitation over Siberia, the Himalayas, and Tibetan Plateau. Extreme precipitation events are projected to have an increase of 20% over the whole domain, with an 80% increase over high topographical areas.