Document Type : Research Paper
Author
Assistant Professor, Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Research Institute, Iran
Abstract
Drought characteristics were investigated in arid and semi-arid regions of eastern and central Iran using monthly precipitation records of 69 synoptic and meteorological weather stations for the period 1975-2005. After quality control of the data records, the the ُStandardized Precipitation Index (SPI) was computed at 3, 6 and 12 month time scales for all considered stations. The target area was regionlized into a few distinctive homoginious sub-regions by applying principal component alalysis and Varimax rotation to the SPI time series computed for 3-, 6- and 12-months time scales, i.e., the target area is composed of two homeginous sub-regions based on SPI at 3- and 12-months time scales, while it classified into 3 sub-regions considerng 6-months time scale. Drought charcteristics (severity, duration and frequency) were also identified for all considered stations and time scales and their respective spatial variability were analysed. The results indicate that drought events with different types of severity are more frequent in northern part of the studied area, while south-eastern part of the region is prone to severe to extreme drought events. The results also suggest that the target area experienced wide spread droughts in 23.5% of the years alaysed. In such years, the ratio of stations hited by severe to exterme droughts are lesser than the number of stations affected by mild to moderate drought events, indicating that the more severe drought the lesser areal extent.
Keywords
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