Page 22 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 1

Climate Change And Türkiye

Figure 2: The map showing the impact of climate change on freshwater resources
(Kundzewicz et al 2007)
According to this map, while surface water flow in certain river basins gets
better, in some others, there is an undesirable effect. Despite the benefits of
climate change in some regions, in some others, drawbacks are expected.
Towards the middle of the century, the annual average river flow rate and the
availability of water is expected to decrease by 10 % to 30 % in subtropical
regions (the climate zone including Türkiye) and certain tropical dry regions
within middle latitudes. On the other hand, in high latitudes with a wetter
climate (towards the Polar Regions) a 10 %-to-40% increase is expected (Milly
et al 2008). According to the shifts in the climate zones, mentioned in the
sentence before and Figure 1, the severity, duration and impact of drought will
increase in the Southern regions of Türkiye, whereas the Northern regions are
expected to experience floods. Today, due to the problems related to water in
dry and semi-dry areas and the decreases are expected in water sources and
it is also possible to experience additional damage.
In winter months, the precipitation occurrences shift from rain to snow. In
addition, there is an increase in temperatures and as a result, the peak surface
flow rates are likely to appear earlier in the land and mountainous areas. This
will also bring an increase in the duration of droughts. The earliness seen in the
snow melt times indicates a decrease in surface flow and shift in the surface
flow towards winter. Due to the retreat of glaciers through global warming,
there is an increase in surface flow. However, it will decrease with the glaciers
shrinkages. This could affect the amount of water as well as runoff rates of
Euphrates River and Tigris River in addition to the time of the peak flow level.

Year 1 / Issue 1 / Jan 2022 7