High-Resolution Climate Simulations Over the Eastern Mediterranean Black Sea Region Using the Pseudo-Global Warming Method With a CMIP6 Ensemble

The strong drying expected in the Eastern Mediterranean with climate change could cause mass migration of people already living under water shortages. On the other hand, precipitation is expected to increase toward the region’s north, particularly those along the interior of the eastern Black Sea coasts, which could worsen existing floods. However, this double-sided adverse phenomenon and its underlying reasons have been investigated by relatively low-resolution models in the Eastern Mediterranean Black Sea (EMBS) region, where orographic precipitation prevails. This study performs 4 km resolution Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simulations with and without climate change signals retrieved from a CMIP6 GCM ensemble via pseudo-global-warming (PGW). The WRF simulations captured the large-scale dynamics affecting the EMBS fairly well: an anticyclonic low-level circulation and enhancing subsidence stem from anomalous ridge development over the central Mediterranean in winter (DJF), and a cyclonic low-level circulation and weakening subsidence rise from heat-low development over the Eastern Mediterranean in summer (JJA). The resulting picture of future warming and drying over the area generally supports the literature, although new insights emerge in anomalous precipitation increase, especially in the summer season over the Greater Caucasus and nearby regions. Most likely, the warmer-than-expected Caspian Sea induces a large increase in specific humidity and, thus, a large moisture source in the lower troposphere and an extension of the heat-low effect in the mid-troposphere. In addition, the high-resolution WRF simulations provide added value over the complex topography of the Caucasian Mountain range for new insights into this region.