Abstract
Rainfall is one of the vital climatic factors that can indicate climate change. Spatial and temporal changes of rainfall would influence runoff, soil moisture, and groundwater reserves. Analysis of precipitation trends is important in studying the impacts of climate change for water resources planning and management. The present study was conducted to determine changes in the annual and seasonal total rainfall over Erbil Area region in Iraqi Kurdistan Region using 23 years (1992-2014) monthly rainfall data at three rain-gauge stations, the widely used WMO 1961 – 1990 (61 – 90) standard normal period is compared to other consecutive 30-year normal periods in detail. The results indicated that a decreasing trend varied between 11.6 mm/year at Pirmam station and 10.8 mm/year at Erbil station, and 28.0 mm/year at Makhmur station. The presence of trend in annual and seasonal rainfall series determined by the widely used WMO 1961 – 1990 (61 – 90) standard normal period which is compared to other consecutive 23-year normal periods in detail and the analysis is being made of the seasonal and annual average of rainfall in the period (1992- 2014) by analyzing their deviation from the average of the SNP (1961-1990).
Highlights
The main causes of climate changes are the natural process such as volcanic eruption, variations in Earth's orbit or changes in the sun's intensity are possible causes, and; human’s activities can cause changes to the climate for example by creating greenhouse gases emissions or cutting down forests, the Earth's climate has never been completely static and in the past the planet's climate has changed due to natural causes
This usage differs from that in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), where climate change refers to a change of climate that is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity, that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and that is in addition to natural
Scherrer and his colleagues) studied the, they used the data of 5 five weather stations, and they used the widely used World Meteorological Organization (WMO) 1961– 1990 (61–90) standard normal period is compared to other consecutive 30-year (1971 – 2000) normal periods in detail, they mainly focused on the temperature distribution in Switzerland and on the European continent, and Other climate elements such as precipitation are not considered
Summary
The study area occupies the central and southern parts of Irbil Governorate and covers (6116,8 km2) (611,680 hectares)) and constitutes about (%) of the total area of Erbil Governorate, Based on the map of the Irbil region and surrounding areas, the area of Erbil can be defined as follows: 1. The study area (Erbil Area) has an irregular shape, forming the Kore and Tauska valleys are defining its northern borders and the valleies of. The study area occupies the central and southern parts of Irbil Governorate and covers (6116,8 km2) (611,680 hectares)) and constitutes about (%) of the total area of Erbil Governorate, Based on the map of the Irbil region and surrounding areas, the area of Erbil can be defined as follows: 1. The study area (Erbil Area) has an irregular shape, forming the Kore and Tauska valleys are defining its northern borders and the valleies of. The Awana Mountain series and the administrative borders of Erbil are its southern and south-western borders, while its western borders are the greater Zab river. 2. The study area in this definition occupies the northeastern parts of the semi-mountainous region within Erbil governorate. 5. The study area is distributed to the administrative units (districts and sub-districts) of Erbil governorate as shown in Map (1) and Table (1)
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