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Drought Monitoring by Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI) in Iran

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Abstract

Drought is one of the most important natural hazards in Iran and frequently affects a large number of people, causing tremendous economic losses, environmental damages and social hardships. Especially, drought has a strong impact on water resources in Iran. This situation has made more considerations toward the study and management of drought. The present study is focused on two important indices; SPI and RDI, for 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 months time scales in 40 meteorological synoptic stations in Iran. In the case of RDI computation, potential evapotranspiration was an important factor toward drought monitoring. So, evapotranspiration was calculated by Penman-Monteith equation. The correlation of RDI and SPI was also surveyed. Drought severity maps for SPI and RDI were also presented in the driest year (1999–2000). The present results have shown that the correlation of SPI and RDI was more considerable in the 3, 6 and 9 months than longer time scales. Furthermore, drought severity maps have shown that during 1999–2000, the central, eastern and south-eastern parts of Iran faced extremely dry conditions. While, according to SPI and RDI trends, other parts of the country suffered from severe drought. The SPI and RDI methods showed approximately similar results for the effect of drought on different regions of Iran. Since, RDI resolved more climatic parameters, such as evapotranspiration, into account which had an important role in water resource losses in the Iranian basins, it was worthwhile to consider RDI in drought monitoring in Iran, too.

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Acknowledgements

The authors greatly acknowledge the financial supports of Yazd University, provided for running the present project. Furthermore, authors greatly appreciate the technical support of Management Center for Strategic Projects in Fars Organization Centre of Jahad-Agriculture of Iran.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Natural Resources, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran

    Mohammad Amin Asadi Zarch, Hossein Malekinezhad, Mohammad Hossein Mobin & Mohammad Taghi Dastorani

  2. Management Center for Strategic Projects, Fars Organization Center of Jahad Agriculture, Shiraz, Iran

    Mohammad Reza Kousari

Authors
  1. Mohammad Amin Asadi Zarch
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  2. Hossein Malekinezhad
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  3. Mohammad Hossein Mobin
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  4. Mohammad Taghi Dastorani
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  5. Mohammad Reza Kousari
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Correspondence to Mohammad Amin Asadi Zarch.

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Asadi Zarch, M.A., Malekinezhad, H., Mobin, M.H. et al. Drought Monitoring by Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI) in Iran. Water Resour Manage 25, 3485–3504 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-011-9867-1

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