Interglacial Variability of Rainfall over Iran (INVARI)

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Rainfall over Iran occurs presently from November through April and is sourced in southern water bodies such as the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, the Oman Sea and the Persian Gulf. Understanding how environmental changes in these water bodies affect rainfall over Iran is thus of utmost importance but rather unknown on timescales beyond the instrumental record. In this proposed project we plan to drill two sites in the Jazmourian and Gavkhouni playas to retrieve sediments that cover the past three interglacial periods. After establishing the age model for these cores, we aim to reconstruct rainfall changes over southeast and central Iran during the same periods in a follow-up project. By comparing these datasets, we will be able to assess the relative importance of temperature and rainfall changes further south in shaping rainfall over Iran during warm periods, and to infer whether the ongoing global warming will lead to an overall decrease or increase in rainfall over Iran.