Fig. 1. Multi-model ensemble mean of the change in predicted soil salinity represented by saturated paste electrical conductivity (ECe) in the mid- and long-term futures, relative to the reference period (1961–1990) under different greenhouse gas concentration trajectories.
a–d Mid-term prediction of changes in ECe (2031–2060). e–h Long-term prediction of changes in ECe (2071–2100). The average of the predictions to the depth of 1 m were used for calculations of salinity change. At each map cell (pixel) and based on each GCM, we calculated the mean of soil salinity for the reference, mid-, and long-term future periods and then computed the relative change as: (Future mean − Reference mean)/Reference mean; the percentage value of each cell represents the multi-GCM mean of the calculated relative changes presented by the colour map. Positive values indicate an increase in soil salinity while the negative values are indicative of a decreasing trend.