The objective of this project is to determine whether the observed land-use patterns over South-West Asia, derived from remote sensing satellites, can be attributed to climatic factors.
A Regional Climate Model (RegCM), developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), will be run over the spatial domain of the Middle East. Surface hydrology characteristics simulated by the RegCM will provide an insight to the dominant vegetation characteristics at a fine model resolution. A cross-comparison of the model simulated vegetation characteristics with remotely sensed data will provide information on the applicability of RegCMs over the Middle East and the significance of climatic factors in determining land-use patterns over South-West Asia. This project is the first instance where a RegCM will be applied over South-West Asia.