Determining the Climate Type and Calculating the Drought Index during the Rainy Months for the Stations of Diwaniya, Samawa and Nasiriya in Southern Iraq

Abstract

In this research, the climate type for the rainy months (January, February, March, April, May, October, November, December) was determined for three selected stations in southern Iraq (Diwaniyah, Samawah, Nasiriyah). By calculating the drought index for each of the rainy months mentioned above using Demarton's equation described in (Mohammed, 2020) Based on climate data including temperatures in Celsius and rainfall amounts for the above-mentioned stations for the period (2000-2021) which were obtained from the Iraqi General Commission for Meteorology and Seismic Monitoring. The results showed the mastery of arid and semi-arid climate in all study stations during most of the rainy months. Except for the months of December and January, where the climate is semi-humid in the stations of Nasiriyah and Diwaniyah, respectively. As for Samawah station, the climate is arid and semi-arid during all rainy months. The results of the statistical analysis using Excel program (2010) also showed a strong positive linear correlation between the values of the drought index and the amounts of rainfall during the rainy months at the stations (Diwaniya, Samawa, Nasiriya), where the values of the correlation coefficient reached (0.961, 0.953, 0.954) respectively. As for the linear correlation between the values of the drought index and the temperatures during the rainy months, the results showed a strong negative linear correlation between them, as the values of the correlation coefficient reached (-0.821, -0.836, -0.822) at the stations (Diwaniya, Samawa, Nasiriya) respectively.