Title: Rainfall and air temperature projections for Sharjah City, United Arab Emirates

Authors: Abdullah Gokhan Yilmaz; Ahmad Ghassan Shabib

Addresses: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates ' Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates

Abstract: Climate change has significant effects on hydrological cycle and water resources. Sharjah City in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is located in one of the most water-scarce regions of the world. Despite the importance of climate change projection and impact studies, those studies specifically for Sharjah City are rare. In this study, first, monthly rainfall and temperature projections were generated for near and far future. Then, trend analysis was conducted to detect trends in future rainfall and temperature projections for Sharjah City. Findings of this study showed that mean air temperature in Sharjah City is expected to rise up to 12-17% for near and far future respectively, whereas average annual rainfall is projected to decrease in the range of 1-53%. Trend analysis showed significant increasing air temperature trends and non-significant decreasing rainfall trends. This study will contribute to climate change impact and policy making studies in Sharjah City.

Keywords: climate change; temperature; rainfall; projections; water; hydrological cycle; global climate models; CMIP5; UAE; Sharjah.

DOI: 10.1504/IJW.2019.097319

International Journal of Water, 2019 Vol.13 No.1, pp.60 - 79

Received: 11 Jul 2018
Accepted: 10 Sep 2018
Published online: 14 Jan 2019 *

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