Investigation of meteorological drought characteristics of the great man-made river region: a case study of drought in Libya

Abstract

Drought is a hidden natural hazard that involves complex climatic systems and has significant environmental and social consequences. Due to the current state of catastrophic climatic occurrences, there has been an increased interest in monitoring droughts in recent years. This study conducted meteorological drought analysis for five monitoring stations in the Great Man-Made River region located in Libya. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI) methods were used to determine meteorological droughts utilizing monthly total precipitation data, and mean monthly temperatures and monthly total precipitation data, respectively. The drought analysis of the Great Man-Made River region using DrinC software for 1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-month SPI values were researched. According to the SPI-12-month index values, the driest period was determined by 86% in the Tripoli Airport and Nalut station, and the least dry period was determined in the Sirt station by 39%. It was found that the year 2000–2001 was one of the driest years in all studied stations, and the other years with high drought rates were 1981–1982, 1984–1985, and 1992–1993.