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Hindi Research Article
Drought Assessment Based on Multi-Model Precipitation Projections for the Island of Crete
| A.-E. K. Vrochidou1, M. G. Grillakis1 and I. K. Tsanis1,2* | |
| 1Water Resources Management and Coastal Engineering Laboratory, Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Greece | |
| 2Department of Civil Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada | |
| Corresponding Author : | Tsanis IK Water Resources Management and Coastal Engineering Laboratory Department of Environmental Engineering Technical University of Crete, Greece E-mail: tsanis@hydromech.gr |
| Received August 07, 2013; Accepted September 16, 2013; Published September 23, 2013 | |
| Citation: Vrochidou AEK, Grillakis MG, Tsanis IK (2013) Drought Assessment Based on Multi-Model Precipitation Projections for the Island of Crete. J Earth Sci Clim Change 4:158. doi:10.4172/2157-7617.1000158 | |
| Copyright: © 2013 Vrochidou AEK, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
Abstract
Drought assessment and projection for the island of Crete was carried out with the aid of thirteen General Circulation Models (GCMs) output (precipitation), bias corrected, using the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios of the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). A comparison throughout three future time slices reveals a significant decreasing precipitation trend and temperature rise. The Spatially Normalized–Standardized Precipitation Index (SN-SPI) was calculated in order to evaluate the spatial and temporal distribution of droughts by classifying the stations in terms of severely and extremely dry conditions as a time percentage. Intensification of drought events is projected for the central and eastern part of the island during the last future period under study (2065-2099) under RCP8.5. The above findings should be taken into consideration for future strategy planning for drought management and warning systems development.
