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Assessing the spatial and temporal variations of terrestrial water storage of Iraq using GRACE satellite data and reliability–resiliency–vulnerability indicators

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Abstract

The spatial and temporal changes of water resources of Iraq were evaluated using the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data for the period 2002–2019. The rate of change and significance of the change in terrestrial water storage (TWS) derived from different GRACE solutions were estimated using Sen’s slope estimator and Mann–Kendall test. The sustainability of water resources was evaluated using reliability–resiliency–vulnerability indicators. Results indicated a significant decrease in water availability. The reliability (range 0.22–0.30) and resiliency (range 0.01–0.23) of water resources were low. The estimated vulnerability (range of 0–1) was highest in the north and lowest in the south and southwest. The calculated sustainability of water resources was generally low (range 0–0.36) and was higher in southern and western regions relative to northern and central areas. Anthropogenic activities and climate change (increasing temperature) play major roles in changes in water availability in Iraq.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq

    Jawad A. Al-Mohammdawi, Alaa M. Al-Abadi & Ali K. Al‑Ali

  2. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40506, USA

    Alaa M. Al-Abadi & Alan Fryar

  3. Department of Water & Environmental Engineering, University of Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor, Malaysia

    Shamsuddin Shahid

  4. State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Nanjing, 210029, China

    Xiaojun Wang

  5. Research Center for Climate Change, Ministry of Water Resources, Nanjing, 210029, China

    Xiaojun Wang

Authors
  1. Jawad A. Al-Mohammdawi
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  2. Alaa M. Al-Abadi
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  3. Ali K. Al‑Ali
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  4. Shamsuddin Shahid
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  5. Alan Fryar
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  6. Xiaojun Wang
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Contributions

Jawad A. Al-Mohammdawi contributed to conceptualization and methodology. Alaa M. Al-Abadi contributed to conceptualization, supervision, and writing original draft. Ali K. Al-Ali contributed to supervision, visualization, and revision. Shamsuddin Shahid contributed to supervision, formal analysis, and data curation. Alan Fryar contributed to writing—review and editing. Xiaojun Wang contributed to supervision.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alaa M. Al-Abadi.

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Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Communicated by Broder J. Merkel.

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Al-Mohammdawi, J.A., Al-Abadi, A.M., Al‑Ali, A.K. et al. Assessing the spatial and temporal variations of terrestrial water storage of Iraq using GRACE satellite data and reliability–resiliency–vulnerability indicators. Arab J Geosci 15, 342 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-022-09626-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-022-09626-x

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