Evaporation from the dried-up lake bed of Lake Urmia, Iran

Darehshouri, Sahand; Michelsen, Nils; Schüth, Christoph; Tajrishy, Masoud; Schulz, Stephan

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159960

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The results indicate that from 2003 to 2015 there has been a descending trend in the variations of the lake volume, during which the volume of the lake decreased from 14.03 km 3 in 2003 to 2.0 km 3 in 2015 meaning that the LU has lost about 86% of its volume in this period. This is in accordance with the findings of Darehshouri et al (2023). There is a slight increase in the lake volume from 2019 to 2020 mainly due to the restoration measures.…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 94%

Model‐coupled GRACE‐based analysis of hydrological dynamics of drying Lake Urmia and its basin

Khorrami

Ali

Sahin

et al. 2023

Hydrological Processes

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Lake Urmia basin (LUB), in northwestern Iran, is under the influence of extreme degradation due to a number of natural and anthropogenic factors. The existence of the Lake is critical for the microclimate of the region as well as the quality of human life and wildlife, which necessitates an up-to-date and holistic analysis of its hydrological dynamics. In this premise, satellite-based terrestrial water storage (TWS) received from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission was coupled with hydrometeorological modelling and assessment tools to analyse the hydrological status of the lake and its basin. As a new gap-filling approach, the Seasonal-Trend decomposition using Locally estimated scatterplot smoothing (LOESS) (STL) decomposition technique was proposed in this study to reconstruct the missing TWS data.Integrating satellite precipitation data with the Catchment Land Surface Model (CLSM) and WaterGAP model outputs, the hydrological status of the lake was investigated. The STL-based TWS turned out to concord well with the simulated TWS from the CLSM indicating the acceptable performance of the proposed technique.The findings revealed that the LUB had undergone an alarming hydrological situation from 2003 to 2021 with a total loss of 10 and 7:56 km 3 from its TWS and groundwater storage (GWS), respectively. The water level time series also indicated that the water level of the lake had diminished with an annual rate of À70 AE 21 cm=year corresponding to a total water level depletion of about 13:35 AE 3:9 m during the 2003-2021 period. The GRACE-derived TWS and GWS also agreed well with the CLSM simulations. Assessment of the extreme events of the LUB suggested that the basin suffered from a severe dry event in 2008 resulting in the depletion of its water storage and water level. It was also found that from 2003 onward, a critical hydrological setting had dominated the LUB with a negative hydrological balance of À0:96 km 3 .

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Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 94%

Model‐coupled GRACE‐based analysis of hydrological dynamics of drying Lake Urmia and its basin

Khorrami

Ali

Sahin

et al. 2023

Hydrological Processes

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“…Human activities, particularly agricultural irrigation, have played a significant role in the desiccation of the Aral Sea and, indeed, saline lakes globally (Williams, 1996; Wine & Laronne, 2020). Similar to the Aral Sea, Lake Urmia in Iran has also faced a rapid decline in its water levels (Darehshouri et al., 2023; Feizizadeh et al., 2023), mirroring the situation of many other saline lakes across continents (Wurtsbaugh et al., 2017). Water inflow to these basins is influenced by climate change, while water demand is expected to increase due to the growing economy and population.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reviving the Aral Sea: A Hydro‐Eco‐Social Perspective

Wang,

Zhang,

Wang

et al. 2023

Earth's Future

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The rapid shrinkage and salinization of the Aral Sea over the last few decades has precipitated an environmental disaster, with widespread implications for people whose livelihoods depend on it. Although debated extensively, few viable strategies have yet been identified for reviving the Aral Sea. Here, we propose a hydro‐eco‐social framework to develop a viable, sustainable solution and explore its feasibility to resolve the Aral Sea problem. Based on eco‐environmental indicators, we contend that it is feasible to raise the Aral Sea by 40 m above the Baltic Sea level, while maintaining salinity levels tolerable for aquatic organisms, simultaneously reducing sandstorm risk by 58%. Basin‐wide water balance under climate change scenarios shows that this level can be supported through management interventions that reduce water usage by 22.0–23.2 km3/year and ensure sufficient recharge into the lake, without compromising socio‐economic opportunities. To implement this solution, we propose establishing a socio‐ecologically aligned water governance network for basin‐scale water management that has potential application for other, similarly declining, major lake systems.

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