Environment and Water Engineering

Advanced Search

Current Issue

By Issue

By Author

By Subject

Author Index

Keyword Index

About Journal

Aims and Scope

Editorial Board

Indexing and Abstracting

Journal Metrics

Peer Review Process

FAQ

Related Links

News

Paper Format

Forms and Format Template

Publication Fee

Publication Ethics

Open Access Policy

Self-Archiving Policy

Investigating the trend of precipitation changes and occurrence of droughts in the Mesopotamian Plain

Document Type : ORIGINAL_ARTICLE

Authors

  • Parvaneh Sobhani 1

  • Afshin Danehkar 2

  1. 1 Department of Environmental Science, Natural Resources Faculty, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran
  2. 2 Department of Environmental Science, Natural Resources Faculty, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran
DOI icon https://doi.org/10.22034/ewe.2024.481079.1968

Abstract

Understanding climate change trends, especially precipitation, has played a significant role in the hydrological cycle and the severity of recent droughts in the Mesopotamian Plain and other western and southwestern regions. In the present study, precipitation changes trend in western and southwestern Iran and the occurrence of droughts in the Mesopotamian Plain from 1989 to 2022 were investigated using the independent t-test in SPSS software, and analyzing statistical variables including mean, median, mode, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, range of variation, skewness, maximum, and minimum. The spatial distribution of annual rainfall has shown a noticeable downward trend, and rainfall in the country has become more concentrated and uniform in terms of time in recent years. The precipitation concentration index also showed that the highest index is related to the southwestern regions, and the lowest concentration index is assigned to the northern regions. Accordingly, the increase in the intensity of seasonality and concentration of precipitation in the southern parts indicates high variability and precipitation irregularity, as a result, an increase in the incidence of drought. The results obtained indicate a decreasing trend in annual and seasonal precipitation and, subsequently, an increase in the occurrence of droughts in the Mesopotamian Plain.

Keywords

Subjects

References
Abbass, K., Qasim, M. Z., Song, H., Murshed, M., Mahmood, H., & Younis, I. (2022). A review of the global climate change impacts, adaptation, and sustainable mitigation measures. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res., 29 (28), 42539-42559. DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-19718-6.
Alipour, H., & Malekian, A. (2019). Analyzing the homogeneity and trends of Astana rainfall with a non-parametric statistical approach in northwest Iran. Scientific-Research Journal of Watershed Engineering and Management, 11 (4), 917-928. [In Persian]. DOI: 20.1001.1.22519300.1398.11.4.9.5.
Amini, A. (2020). The role of climate parameters variation in the intensification of dust phenomenon. Natural Hazards, 102(1), 445-468. DOI: 10.1007/s11069-020-03933-w.
Bolan, S., Padhye, L. P., Jasemizad, T., Govarthanan, M., Karmegam, N., Wijesekara, H., & Bolan, N. (2024). Impacts of climate change on the fate of contaminants through extreme weather events. Science of The Total Environment, 909, 168388. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168388.
Debernardi, C., Seeber, M., & Cattaneo, M. (2024). Thirty years of climate change research: A fine-grained analysis of geographical specialization. Environmental Science & Policy, 152, 103663. DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2023.103663.
Doostan, R. (2020). An analysis of rainfall changes in Iran. Journal of Climate Research, 10 (40), 13-25. [In Persian]
Hosseini, S. M. (2018). Precipitation trends analysis in southwest asia during the last half century. Applied Research of Geographical Sciences, 18(49), 151-166. DOI: 10.29252/jgs.18.49.151. [In Persian].
‎Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ‎Change (IPCC). (2021). Climate Change ‎‎2021 the Physical science basis ‎summary for policymakers technical ‎summary frequently asked questions ‎Glossary. Part of the Working Group I ‎Contribution to the Sixth Assessment ‎Report of the Intergovernmental Panel ‎on Climate Change.‎ Accessed  14. Jun. 2023, available at: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_SummaryVolume.
Kabir, M., Habiba, U. E., Khan, W., ‎Shah, A., Rahim, S., Farooqi, Z. U. R., ‎& Shafiq, M. (2023). Climate change ‎due to increasing concentration of ‎carbon dioxide and its impacts on ‎environment in 21st century; A mini ‎review. Journal of King Saud ‎University-Science, 35 (5), 102693.‎ DOI: 10.1016/j.jksus.2023.102693
Curtis J, J. (2020). Mesopotamia and Iran in Antiquity: Conflict and Confrontation 3500-1600. Samt Publications.1-156. [In Persian].
Lashkari, H., Jafari, M., & Mohammadi, Z. (2021). Why does the rainfall in the south and ‎southwest of Iran decrease in February compared to other winter months? Geography and ‎Environmental Planning, 83 (3), 81-104. [In Persian]. DOI: 10.22108/GEP.2021.125832.1370. ‎
Leddin, D. (2024). The impact of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss on digestive health and disease. Gastro Hep Advances, 3 (4), 519-534. DOI: 10.1016/j.gastha.2024.01.018.
‎National Meteorological Organization (NMO). (2021). Annual climate report.‎ Accessed  25 April 2023, available at:  https://www.irimo.ir/ 2022. [In Persian].
Ahmadpari, H. and Khaustov, V. (2025). Agricultural Drought Monitoring Using Meteorological Indices in Darreh Dozdan Basin, Iran. Advances in Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, 2(2), 72-84. doi: 10.22034/acees.2025.512324.1022
Sari Saraf, B., & Jalali Ansarodi, T. (2019). Investigating climate change on the water balance caused by precipitation in Nasouj aquifer for the period 2017-2030. Hydrogeomorphology, 5 (19), 163-185. [In Persian]. DOI: 20.1001.1.23833254.1398.6.19.9.0.
Shivanna, K. R. (2022). Climate change and its impact on biodiversity and human welfare. Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy, 88 (2), 160-171. DOI: 10.1007/s43538-022-00073-6.
Torabi Poudeh, H., Izadjoo, F., & Hamezade, P. (2018). The trend changing analysis of total and effective rainfall in‎ Iran. Iranian Water Researches Journal, 12(4), 1-10 [In Persian].
Weeda, L. J., Bradshaw, C. J., Judge, M. A., Saraswati, C. M., & Le Souëf, P. N. (2024). How climate change degrades child health: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Science of the Total Environment, 170944. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170944.
Williams, P. C., Beardsley, J., Isaacs, D., Preisz, A., & Marais, B. J. (2023). The impact of climate change and biodiversity loss on the health of children: An ethical perspective. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, 1048317. DOI: ‎10.3389/fpubh.2022.1048317.
Zabihi, M., Mostafazadeh, R., & Sharari, M. (2017). Analysis of intensity and continuity of dry ‎and wet periods based on indicators based on rainfall and evaporation-transpiration. Watershed ‎Management Journal, 8 (15), 125-136. DOI: 10.29252/jwmr.8.15.125‎ [In Persian].
Environment and Water Engineering

Volume 11, Issue 3
March 2025

Pages 356 - 360

Files
History
  • Receive Date:
  • Revise Date:
  • Accept Date:
  • Publish Date: 01 September 2025
Share
How to cite
Statistics