Determination of climatic conditions changes impacts on Lake Salda Basin

The study field encompasses Lake Salda and its basin, which is located in the region of lakes of Turkey in the Southeastern region. Even though the Mediterranean Climate is observed in the study field in regards to the geographic location and the general atmosphere, it remains under the effect of the steppe climate due to its height the morphological factors around. Therefore, its transition type has the characteristics of the Mediterranean climate. The lake which has the feature of a closed basin is fed by streams and sources in the basin. The level of water in the lake in parallel with its ecosystems sustainability directly depends on climate conditions. With this study, it is aimed to determine the effects of the changes in climate conditions in Lake Salda Basin, a wetland, which is regarded as an important area of biodiversity in Turkey and has sensitive ecosystems. Therefore, first of all, the climate conditions around Lake Salda and its basin were analyzed and the Linear Trend analysis and Man Kendall Correlation Test were applied to determine the average temperature and changes in areal Precipitation. As the second phase, the changes on the surface of the lake were revealed with the spatial analysis made in ArcGis 10.2 software using geographical information system through satellite İmages from different years and the data on the level of the lake were analyzed. Accordingly, with the results of Linear Trend Analysis, the tendency to increase in the yearly average, maximum and minimum temperatures and the tendency to increase in a low level in the yearly average total and maximum rainfall were observed. With the results of Mann Kendall Test,while the tendency to increase in significance level statistically a=0.05 in the yearly average temperatures and the changes of increase in temperature tendencies were confirmed after 2000's when u(t) and u`(t) values crossed over, meaningful result in the yearly total rain amount was not confirmed. With the surface analysis made through Arcgis software, between 1972-2019, changes on the surface of the lake and according to data of the yearly and monthly lake surface, changes in the level of the lake were observed between 1998 and 2015. With the statistical analysis of meteorological climate data and satellite images and the field study, Lake Salda such as many other lakes in the region of lakes in Turkey, faces the effects of climate change.