Assessing the severity of drought in the Mesopotamian Plain and the changes in rainfall caused by it in the western and southwestern regions of Iran

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor, Department of Environment, Faculty of Natural Resources, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran

2 Professor, Department of Environmental Science, Natural Resources Faculty, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

10.29252/aridbiom.2024.22214.2029

Abstract

The Mesopotamian Plain is one of the common water basins in the Middle East region, which has witnessed major ecological and hydrological changes in recent decades. Therefore, the extensive drying of the water areas of this plain has led to the widespread destruction of the region's ecosystem and the unprecedented expansion of the desert. Based on this, in this study, the trend of changes in the water areas of the inter-Nahrin plain during the last four decades using satellite images and evaluating the severity of drought and the changes in rainfall caused by it using SPI indicators. RAI and PNI were paid during the years 1989 to 2022. As the results showed, during these years, due to various factors, including climate changes, decrease in rainfall, drought, dam constructions by Turkey, etc., led to an increase in the decreasing trend in water areas and as a result, the spread of droughts. It has been done in this calvary. In addition, the drought situation during the years 1980 to 2022 based on the average rainfall and also the percentage of SPI, RAI and NPI indicates that the most droughts are related to the decades of 1990-2000 and 2007-2015 and the continuation of droughts until 2022 can be seen in the south and southeast and to some extent in the west and southwest of the country. Therefore, proper planning is needed in order to control the drought in the region and then environmental consequences such as it is necessary to increase dust and other biological consequences in the country.

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Main Subjects

References

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Journal of Arid Biome
Volume 14, Issue 2
October 2024
Pages 1-17

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