Determination of drought intensity in Seyhan and Ceyhan River Basins, Turkey, by hydrological drought analysis

Abstract

This paper studied hydrological drought identified by the Streamflow Drought Index (SDI) at eight river-gauging stations in the Eastern Mediterranean part of Turkey for a roughly 43-year period covering from 1972 to 2014 (4 stations), from 1973 to 2015 (2 stations), and from 1969 to 2011 (2 stations). Results of SDI analyses indicate that the number of drought years was highest during the 3-month October–December period. A considerable part of the drought years was determined to be mild drought. Although moderate drought conditions were observed in all stations, moderate drought conditions were determined especially at Goksu-H in the Seyhan River Basin and Sogutlu and Savrun in the Ceyhan River Basin. Short-term fluctuations of dry and wet conditions are the dominant pattern for most of the stations; however, long-term persistent drought conditions are also prominent, especially at Tacin and Korkun in Seyhan Basin and Goksun in Ceyhan Basin. The starting point for the negative trend in the 12-month series was the years 1996, 1999, and 2000.