Authors: Tayeb Raziei Bahram Saghafian Ana A Paulo Luis S Pereira Isabella Bordi
Publish Date: 2008/06/19
Volume: 23, Issue: 3, Pages: 439-
Abstract
An analysis of drought in western Iran from 1966 to 2000 is presented using monthly precipitation data observed at 140 gauges uniformly distributed over the area Drought conditions have been assessed by means of the Standardized Precipitation Index SPI To study the longterm drought variability the principal component analysis was applied to the SPI field computed on 12month time scale The analysis shows that applying an orthogonal rotation to the first two principal component patterns two distinct subregions having different climatic variability may be identified Results have been compared to those obtained for the largescale using reanalysis data suggesting a satisfactory agreement Furthermore the extension of the largescale analysis to a longer period 1948–2007 shows that the spatial patterns and the associated time variability of drought are subjected to noticeable changes Finally the relationship between hydrological droughts in the two subregions and El Niño Southern Oscillation events has been investigated finding that there is not clear evidence for a link between the two phenomena
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