Preliminary Assessment of Hydrothermal Risks in the Euphrates–Tigris Basin: Droughts in Iraq

Ali S. Alhumaima, Sanjar M. Abdullaev

Аннотация


This paper presents a temporal and spatial pattern of precipitation, surface air temperature, and drought occurrence in Euphrates–Tigris rivers basin with special emphases on Iraq. Historical records based on 115 years (1900–2014) of monthly precipitation and temperature data has been divided into four sub-periods, each of 30 years (first 1900–1929, second 1930–1959, third 1960–1989 and fourth 1985–2014) and studied separately. The results showed that the mean annual precipitation in Iraq for the four sub-periods is: 218.5, 202.1, 196.4, and 174.9 mm respectively, with an average of 198 mm. This indicates that the mean annual precipitation decreased by 43.6 mm (20 %) in the fourth sub-period compared to the first sub-period. The mean annual temperature for the four sub-periods in Iraq are 22.0, 21.9, 22.0, 22.8 °C respectively, with an average of 22.2 °C. This indicates that the average monthly temperature during the year in Iraq increased by 0.76 °C (3.45 %) in the fourth sub-period compared to the first sub-period. The probability of occurrence of dry (hot) periods in Iraq increased by 345.5 % (147.7 %) in the fourth sub-period compared to the first sub-period. Fortunately, the greatest drought occurrence is observed in western parts of Ira, where agriculture is irrigated, in rain-fed areas in the northern Iraq, there has also been a decrease in precipitation, but not so strong as in the west of the country. A preliminary conclusion about the current climatic desertification and its possible consequences for Iraq was drawn.


Ключевые слова


Euphrates-Tigris rivers basin; Iraq; temperature; precipitation; climate change; Standardized Precipitation Index; z-score

Полный текст:

PDF (English)

Литература


Osman Y., AlAnsari N., Abdellatif M., et al. Expected Future Precipitation in Central Iraq Using LARS-WG Stochastic Weather Generator. Engineering. 2014. vol. 6, no. 13. pp. 948–959. DOI: 10.4236/eng.2014.613086.

Zakaria S., Alansari N., Knutsson S. Historical and Future Climatic Change Scenarios for Temperature and Rainfall for Iraq. Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture. USA. 2013. vol. 7, no. 12. pp. 1574–1594.

Yazdanpanah H., Eitzinger J., Baldi M. Analysis of the extreme heat events in Iran. International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management. 2017. vol. 9, no. 4. pp. 418–432. DOI: 10.1108/IJCCSM-04-2016-0046.

Awchi T.A., Kalyana M.M. Meteorological Drought Analysis in Northern Iraq Using SPI and GIS. Sustainable Water Resources Management. 2017. vol. 3, no. 4. pp. 451–463. DOI: 10.1007/s40899-017-0111-x.

Belayneh A., Adamowski J. Standard Precipitation Index Drought Forecasting Using Neural Networks, Wavelet Neural Networks, and Support Vector Regression. Applied Computational Intelligence and Soft Computing. 2012. vol. 2012. pp. 1–13. DOI: 10.1155/2012/794061.

Dahal P., Shrestha N.S., Shrestha M.L., et al. Drought Risk Assessment in Central Nepal: Temporal and Spatial Analysis. Natural Hazards. 2016. vol. 80, no. 3. pp. 1913–1932. DOI: 10.1007/s11069-015-2055-5.

Palmer W.C. Meteorological Drought. U.S. Department of Commerce Weather Bureau. Washington DC. 1965.

Mckee T.B., Doesken N.J., Kleist J. The Relationship of Drought Frequency and Duration to Time Scales. AMS 8th Conference on Applied Climatology (Anaheim, January, 17–22, 1993). 1993. pp. 179–184.

Vicente S.M., Beguería S., López J.I. A Multiscalar Drought Index Sensitive to Global Warming: The Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index. Journal of Climate. 2010. vol. 23, no. 7. pp. 1696–1718. DOI: 10.1175/2009JCLI2909.1

Byun H.R., Wilhite D.A. Objective Quantification of Drought Severity and Duration. Journal of Climate. 1999. vol. 12, no. 9. pp. 2747–2756. DOI: 10.1175/1520-0442(1999)012<2747:OQODSA>2.0.CO;2.

Bloomfield J.P., Marchant B.P. Analysis of Groundwater Drought Building on the Standardised Precipitation Index Approach. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. 2013. vol. 17, no. 12. pp. 4769–4787. DOI: 10.5194/hess-17-4769-2013.

Matthews T., Mullan D., Wilby R.L., et al. Past and future climate change in the context of memorable seasonal extremes. Climate Risk Management. 2016. vol. 11. pp. 37–52. DOI: 10.1016/j.crm.2016.01.004.

El-Fadel M., El Sayegh Y., Ibrahim A.A., et al. The Euphrates Tigris Basin: a Case Study in Surface Water Conflict Resolution. Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education. 2002. vol. 31. pp. 99–110.

UN-ESCWA, BGR (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia; Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe), Inventory of Shared Water Resources in Western Asia. 2013.

Issa I.E., AlAnsari N.A., Sherwany G., et al. Expected Future of Water Resources within Tigris Euphrates Rivers Basin, Iraq. Journal of Water Resource and Protection. 2014. vol. 6. pp. 421–432. DOI: 10.4236/jwarp.2014.65042.

Abd-El-Mooty M., Kansoh R., Abdulhadi A. Challenges of Water Resources in Iraq. Hydrology Current Research. 2016. vol. 7, no. 4. pp. 1–8. DOI: 10.4172/2157-7587.1000260.

Ministry of Planning. Central Statistical Organization, Annual Statistical Abstract 2014-2016. Baghdad. Iraq. 2016.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), IRAQ Agriculture Damage and Loss Needs Assessment, 2017.

Ministry of Agriculture. Annual Agricultural Statistical Data 2014. Baghdad. Iraq. 2014.

AL-Timimi Y.K., AL-Jiboori M.H. Assessment of Spatial and Temporal Drought in Iraq during the Period 1980-2010. International Journal of Energy and Environment (IJEE). 2013. vol. 2, no. 4. pp. 291–302.

Bilal D.A., Al-Jumaily K.J., Habbib E.A. Air Temperature Trends in Baghdad, Iraq for the Period 1941-2000. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications. 2013. vol. 3, no. 9. pp. 1–5.

Shubbar R.M., Salman H.H., Lee D.I. Characteristics of Climate Variation Indices in Iraq using a Statistical Factor Analysis. International Journal of Climatology. 2017. vol. 37, no. 2. pp. 918–927. DOI: 10.1002/joc.4749.

Omar M.A., Agha M., Şarlak N. Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Drought in Iraq Using the Standardized Precipitation Index. Journal of Applied Physics (IOSR-JAP), 2007. vol. 8, no. 6. pp. 19–25. DOI: 10.9790/4861-0806051925.

Food and Agriculture Organization United Nations (FAO). Euphrates Tigris River Basin. 2009.

Özdoǧan M. Climate Change Impacts on Snow Water Availability in the Euphrates Tigris basin. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. 2011. vol. 15, no. 9. pp. 2789–2803. DOI: 10.5194/hess-15-2789-2011.

Yıldız D. Natural Diminishing Trend of the Tigris and Euphrates Streamflows is Alarming for the Middle East Future. World Scientific News. 2016. vol. 47, no. 2. pp. 279–297.

AlAnsari N., Knutsson S. Toward Prudent Management of Water Resources in Iraq. Journal of Advanced Science and Engineering Research. 2011. vol. 1. pp. 53–67.

Al-Ansari N.A. Management of Water Resources in Iraq: Perspectives and Prognoses. Engineering. 2013. vol. 5, no. 8. pp. 667–684. DOI: 10.4236/eng.2013.58080.

Willmott C.J., Matsuura K. Terrestrial Air Temperature and Precipitation: Monthly and Annual Time Series (1950–1999). Version 4.01. University of Delaware. Department of Geography. 2015. Available at: http://climate.geog.udel.edu/~climate/html_pages/Global2014/README.GlobalTsT2014.html.

Behrangi A., Nguyen H., Granger S. Probabilistic Seasonal Prediction of Meteorological Drought using the Bootstrap and Multivariate Information. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. 2015. vol. 54, no. 7. pp. 1510–1522. DOI: 10.1175/JAMC-D-14-0162.1.

Shah R., Bharadiya N., Manekar V. Drought Index Computation Using Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) Method For Surat District, Gujarat. International Conference on Water Resources, Coastal and Ocean Engineering (ICWRCOE). 2015. vol. 4. pp. 1243–1249. DOI: 10.1016/j.aqpro.2015.02.162.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14529/cmse180403