Impact of Global Warming on the Euphrates-Tigris Watershed.

Over the last few decades demand for fresh water from the Euphrates-Tigris watershed has increased substantially, approaching (even exceeding in dry years) the total flow of the system. This situation leaves the area vulnerable to future changes in the water cycle. Here I present some preliminary results of a modeling study investigating the impact of global warming on the water cycle of the Euphrates-Tigris watershed. The region is modeled using MM5 run at 27km grid spacing and 23 levels in the vertical. Boundary conditions for the model are obtained from a CCSM 3 'business as usual' run (IPCC scenario A2) simulating the 21st century. MM5 was run for three five year periods starting in 2000, 2048 and 2095.