Evaluation and simulation of water footprints of agricultural crops in different climates of Iran considering of climate change scenarios

Climate change is one of the most important environmental challenges that has a significant impact on basic resources, including water resources, so it is necessary to assess this phenomenon, agriculture and water resources. In this study, due to this importance, the simulation of climatic parameters with the general ocean circulation model GFDL-CM3 under two commonly used scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 in two time periods of 2021-2040 and 2041-2060 in six different climates of Iran has been investigated and Using its results, the prediction calculations of the water footprint of agricultural crops were performed in two components, blue water and green water footprints. For this purpose, 31 stations from all over Iran were selected and classified by UNESCO classification into six climate classes and then their 30-year meteorological statistics data are entered into the LARS-WG model. meteorological data were generated over the desired time periods. The results showed that during future periods the temperature in the study areas will increase from 0.5 ° C to 2.3 ° C and rainfall changes will increase from -16 mm to 100.2 mm. This causes changes in green and blue water footprints in different climates of Iran from -13.44% to 37.53% in green water footprint and -18.77% to 38.20% in blue water footprint, respectively. Among the climates studied, the two climates SA-K-W and PH-C-W will have the largest reduction in green water footprint and the highest increase in blue water footprint, and will be most affected by climate change and its consequences.