Modeling of climate change in cold arid regions of north western Himalayas using multiple linear regression (MLR)

Abstract

The present study aimed at modeling the impacts of climate change on precipitation and temperature and its trend in the context of changing climate in cold arid regions of north western Himalayas using multiple linear regression (MLR) model. The study was carried out in three different time slices viz., near future (2017-2045), mid future (2046-2072) and far future (2073-2099). The study includes the calibration of the observed climate data (maximum temperature, minimum temperature and precipitation) for fourteen years (2002-2015) and the outputs of downscaled scenario A2 of the Global Climate Model (GCM) data of Hadley Centre Coupled Model, (HadCM3) was used for validation, for the future. Daily climate (maximum temperature, minimum temperature and precipitation) scenarios were generated from 1961 to 2099 under A2 defined by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). During calibration, the maximum temperature, minimum temperature and precipitation showed decreasing trend. During validation, the maximum temperature showed an increasing trend in near future (2017- 2045) and decreasing trend in mid (2046-2072) and far future (2073-2099). While as, the minimum temperature and precipitation showed an increasing trend and decreasing trend respectively, in three futuristic phases. After validation, on comparison with the measured data, the variation in maximum temperature was found -2.59 oC in near future, -3.17 oC in mid future and -3.41 oC in far future. Similarly, for minimum temperature and precipitation, the variations with observed data were found 0.91 oC and -32.2 mm, respectively in near future, 2.01 oC and -34.6 mm, respectively in mid future, 4.08 oC and -3.4 mm, respectively in far future. These changes may be found due to global warming which lead to decrease in average annual precipitation and increase in average minimum temperatures causing the melting of glaciers.