Identifying Drought Status in Duhok Governorate (Iraqi Kurdistan Region) from 1998 through 2012 using Landsat Time Series Dataset

Abstract

<jats:p>Drought is a natural hazard that has a significant impact on the various aspects (i.e., economic, agricultural, environmental, and social). This study was carried out to evaluate drought severity and frequency during the growing season (April month) in Duhok Governorate (DUG), the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR), for the period from 1998 through 2012 based on Landsat-based spectral indices. In this study, 15 mosaics assembled for 15 years consist of two scenes of Landsat time series, in a total of 30 TM and ETM+ images (WRS2: 170/34 &amp; 170/35) acquired in 1998 to 2012. Annual precipitation data were collected from 18 meteorological stations distributed in the (DUG) for the study period. Drought status was investigated using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (MSAVI2), and Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI). The study results showed an increase in drought severity and frequency in the (DUG) during the fifty years, particularly in 2000 and 2008. Whereas, the NDVI-based vegetation cover area has been reduced by 21.5% and 50.2% in 2000 and 2008, respectively. Additionally, the lowest values of the MSAVI2 (0.012 and 0.266) occurred in 2000 and 2008. As a result, the percentage of the vegetation cover reduction was 14.0% and 23.9%, respectively. Moreover, drop-in precipitation averages have occurred in those two drought years 2000 and 2008, as well as a significant reduction in the vegetation cover. On the other side, the most significant shrinkage in Duhok Dam (DUD) was by 1.13, 1.44, and 1.36 km2 in 2007, 2008, and 2009. It can be concluded that there are increasing drought episodes in the last two decades, declining in the water body surface area, and decreasing the precipitation averages in DUG from 1998 through 2012.</jats:p>

Drought trend analysis in a semi-arid area of Iraq based on Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Water Index and Standardized Precipitation Index

“…Further, there was a significant positive relationship (P<0.01) of SPI with precipitation (r=0.92) and surface area of the LDK (r=0.73). These results are consistent with those of Gaznayee and Al-Quraishi (2020).…”

A Comparative Study for Performance of Five Landsat-based Vegetation Indices: Their Relations to Some Ecological and Terrain Variables

“…On the other side, Lake Dokan can be considered as the largest lake in the IKR. Besides, several smaller lakes in the region, such as Duhok and Darbandekhan lakes (Izady, 1992;Gaznayee and Al-Quraishi, 2020). The vegetated cover mostly consists of grasses flourishes during the winter and spring seasons, giving the whole region a green look.…”

“…Throughout the long term, new vegetative list models have been intended to recognize scanty green vegetation, and all of them are limiting impacts of soil reflection splendor, geographical bending, and barometrical (Harris, 2004;Fadhil, 2013). Precise assessment of vegetation reaction over various year time scales is essential for worldwide change (Fadhil, 2009;Gaznayee and Al-Quraishi, 2019a); Justice et al, 1998;Fadhil, 2011;Gaznayee and Al-Quraishi., 2020).…”

Spatiotemporal Analysis of Land Surface Temperature and Vegetation Changes in Duhok District, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

“…The MSAVI2 corrects reflections in locations where there is a lot of soil exposed. For vegetative area delineation in bare soil areas, the MSAVI2 index surpasses the NDVI (Mzuri et al, 2021b, Gaznayee andAl-Quraishi, 2020).…”