Climate research highlights future warming scenarios for the Arabian Peninsula

A new international climate modeling study led by researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) highlights different potential scenarios for the future climate of the Arabian Peninsula, depending on which climate policies are implemented.

The Arabian Peninsula has long been known for its high temperatures and water scarcity that challenge living and working there. However, these problems will only exasperate with the temperature increases predicted by all climate models, affecting a population that is expected to double between now and the end of the century. 

KAUST Emeritus Professor Georgiy Stenchikov, who this month was part of the team of KAUST and international researchers that won the “Nobel” prize for high-performance computing, the ACM Gordon Bell Prize for Climate Modelling, led the Arabian Peninsula study using a sophisticated tool known as “statistical downscaling” that was applied to climate models to analyze the Middle East region. 

“We applied statistical downscaling to 26 global climate models under different greenhouse gas emissions scenarios, giving us a spatial resolution of 9 km” said Stenchikov. “This fine resolution enhances our ability to detect and analyze regional warming and hotspots more effectively, presenting the most accurate regional-scale prediction of temperature change over the Middle East and North Africa.”  

Read more at KAUST Discovery.