Assessment of the drought impacts on the vegetation cover over Iraqi lands

Abstract

The current study was carried out on Iraqi lands, which is located between latitudes 29° 00′ to 37° 15′ N and longitudes 38° 45′ to 48° 25′ E and extended over an area of 436364 square kilometres. The study period is characterised by frequent drought conditions and scarcity of herbaceous crops for many years. The study aims to cast light on the impact of drought on vegetation cover using Standardised Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) and Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data. Required data are downloaded from Global SPEI database and Copernicus the Global Land Services. The spatial interpolation of the SPEI and NDVI are used for comparing drought conditions and the percentage of vegetation cover. The results point out to six years of dry conditions i.e., 1999, 2000, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012 during which most of Iraqi regions passed through moderate to extreme drought conditions with a significant decrease in vegetation cover. Measurement of the correlation coefficient marked moderate to very high correlation over areas where herbaceous crops are dominant, except areas in middle-south which show weak correlation due to dependence on irrigation process while southwestern parts due to the presence of sandy soil and north-eastern parts; because of dominance of wet-cold climatic conditions.