Trend Analysis for Examining the Interaction between the Atatürk Dam Lake and Its Local Climate

Abstract

Large water reservoirs constructed for various purposes, such as dam lakes and ponds, affect climates of regions resulting in local climate variations. In this study, the effect of Atatürk Dam Lake, constructed in The Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey in 1986, on local climatic variables is examined. Long-term actual meteorological data for the nearest two sites to the Dam Lake,Şanlıurfa and Adıyaman, are considered. The three well-known and the most accessible techniques of trend analysis, linear regression, Mann-Kendall, and Sen’s methods, are used for examining six meteorological variables of the sites. These variables are maximum temperature (Tmax), minimum temperature (Tmin), mean temperature (Tmean), relative humidity (RH), total precipitation (TP), and wind speed (WS). All the three techniques applied to climatic variables give the similar results of that there are upward trends in temperature and relative humidity, no trend in precipitation and decreasing trend in wind speed. These trends become more pronounced after the construction of the dam.