EGU22-3798, updated on 27 Mar 2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3798
EGU General Assembly 2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Water Towers of the Pamirs: I. Precipitation and temperature trends

Zulfiqor Khojazoda, Roy Sidle, and Arnaud Caiserman
Zulfiqor Khojazoda et al.
  • Mountain Societies Research Institute, Tajikistan (zulfiqor.khojazoda@ucentralasia.org)

Precipitation and temperature changes across the Vakhsh and Panj basins are of great importance for Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan for consumption, agricultural, and energy purposes. While studies of precipitation and temperature trends have been conducted in these basins, attention to their heterogenous topography and nature have not been considered and analyzed together with glacial and permafrost melt. Here, we assessed the trends of precipitation and temperature over the last 20 years using remote sensing products. For precipitation, we used research grade daily GPM IMERG V06 Final Run from 2001 to 2020. Similarly, temperature MODIS Land Surface Temperature & Emissivity (LST&E) (MOD11A1) was used to assess temperature trends and separate liquid from solid precipitation. Annual precipitation and temperature trends were also assessed in three elevation bands: low (317-2225m), middle (2225-4500m) and high (4500-7543m).

Positive significant trends for solid precipitation mainly arise in the northern parts of the basins, while slightly positive with more negative trends occurred over the central and southern parts of the Panj basin. A significant solid precipitation trend of +1.30mm y-1 below 2225 m a.s.l. occurred in late spring. Many of the pixels (1 x 1 km) across the study region that exhibited significant trends were increases in temperature, especially in the high elevations in the eastern portion of the basins. There was a significant annual increase of liquid precipitation coupled with a decrease in solid precipitation and an increase in temperature trend in the central Pamirs, implying a shift from solid to liquid precipitation. An increase in rainfall below 4500 m a.s.l. was observed, where the largest increases occurred in the western portions of these basins with nearly no significant temperature trends; thus, potentially having a positive influence on agricultural and community water supplies. However, long-term water supplies in the dry regions of the central and eastern parts of the basins may create supply vulnerabilities.

How to cite: Khojazoda, Z., Sidle, R., and Caiserman, A.: Water Towers of the Pamirs: I. Precipitation and temperature trends, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-3798, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3798, 2022.