Projection of precipitation under RCP4.5 and RCP 8.5 in central and southern regions of Iraq

Climate change has significant impacts on natural systems, especially in terms of altering hydrological patterns due to changing precipitation and melting snow and ice. This study examines projected changes in precipitation for central and southern Iraq under the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios for the periods 2046–2065 and 2081–2100 using CMIP5 climate model HadGEM2-AO output. The results revealed that under RCP4.5, there was large spatial variation in the projected precipitation over the region during 2064-2065, ranging from as low as 27 mm in western part to as high as 1541 mm in the eastern part. The spatial variability as well as precipitation amount decreased considerably during 2081-2100 periods. Under RCP8.5 the projected precipitation was only 14-164 mm in 2046-2065 and 36-532 mm in 2081-2100 periods. Thus, under RCP8.5 scenario anticipated precipitation will be quite low.