Evaluation of meteorological drought using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) in the High Ziz River basin, Morocco

One of the adverse impacts of climate change is drought, and the complex nature of droughts makes them one of the most important climate hazards. Drought indices are generally used as a tool for monitoring changes in meteorological, hydrological, agricultural and economic conditions. In this study,...

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Main Authors: Diani Khadija, Kacimi Ilias, Zemzami Mahmoud, Tabyaoui Hassan, Haghighi Ali Torabi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Sciendo 2019-09-01
Series:Limnological Review
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.2478/limre-2019-0011
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spelling doaj-14ae74b6674840b98df5a9fa40b5575e2021-09-06T19:22:23ZengSciendoLimnological Review2300-75752019-09-0119312513510.2478/limre-2019-0011limre-2019-0011Evaluation of meteorological drought using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) in the High Ziz River basin, MoroccoDiani Khadija0Kacimi Ilias1Zemzami Mahmoud2Tabyaoui Hassan3Haghighi Ali Torabi4LGEE Laboratory, Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Mohammed V-Agdal University, Rabat, MoroccoLGEE Laboratory, Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Mohammed V-Agdal University, Rabat, MoroccoMinistry Delegate to the Minister of Energy, Mines, Water and Environment, in charge of water, Rabat, MoroccoNatural Resources and Environment Laboratory, Polydisciplinary Faculty of Taza, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdullah University, Fez, MoroccoWater, Energy and Environmental Engineering Research Unit, University of Oulu, PO Box 4300, FIN-90014, FinlandOne of the adverse impacts of climate change is drought, and the complex nature of droughts makes them one of the most important climate hazards. Drought indices are generally used as a tool for monitoring changes in meteorological, hydrological, agricultural and economic conditions. In this study, we focused on meteorological drought events in the High Ziz river Basin, central High Atlas, Morocco. The application of drought index analysis is useful for drought assessment and to consider methods of adaptation and mitigation to deal with climate change. In order to analyze drought in the study area, we used two different approaches for addressing the change in climate and particularly in precipitation, i) to assess the climate variability and change over the year, and ii) to assess the change within the year timescale (monthly, seasonally and annually) from 1971 to 2017. In first approach, precipitation data were used in a long time scale e.g. annual and more than one-year period. For this purpose, the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) was considered to quantify the rainfall deficit for multiple timescales. For the second approach, trend analysis (using the Mann-Kendall (M-K) test) was applied to precipitation in different time scales within the year. The results showed that the study area has no significant trend in annual rainfall, but in terms of seasonal rainfall, the magnitude of rainfall during summer revealed a positive significant trend in three stations. A significant negative and positive trend in monthly rainfall was observed only in April and August, respectively.https://doi.org/10.2478/limre-2019-0011climate changerainfallmultiple timescalesmann-kendall test
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Diani Khadija
Kacimi Ilias
Zemzami Mahmoud
Tabyaoui Hassan
Haghighi Ali Torabi
spellingShingle Diani Khadija
Kacimi Ilias
Zemzami Mahmoud
Tabyaoui Hassan
Haghighi Ali Torabi
Evaluation of meteorological drought using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) in the High Ziz River basin, Morocco
Limnological Review
climate change
rainfall
multiple timescales
mann-kendall test
author_facet Diani Khadija
Kacimi Ilias
Zemzami Mahmoud
Tabyaoui Hassan
Haghighi Ali Torabi
author_sort Diani Khadija
title Evaluation of meteorological drought using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) in the High Ziz River basin, Morocco
title_short Evaluation of meteorological drought using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) in the High Ziz River basin, Morocco
title_full Evaluation of meteorological drought using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) in the High Ziz River basin, Morocco
title_fullStr Evaluation of meteorological drought using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) in the High Ziz River basin, Morocco
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation of meteorological drought using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) in the High Ziz River basin, Morocco
title_sort evaluation of meteorological drought using the standardized precipitation index (spi) in the high ziz river basin, morocco
publisher Sciendo
series Limnological Review
issn 2300-7575
publishDate 2019-09-01
description One of the adverse impacts of climate change is drought, and the complex nature of droughts makes them one of the most important climate hazards. Drought indices are generally used as a tool for monitoring changes in meteorological, hydrological, agricultural and economic conditions. In this study, we focused on meteorological drought events in the High Ziz river Basin, central High Atlas, Morocco. The application of drought index analysis is useful for drought assessment and to consider methods of adaptation and mitigation to deal with climate change. In order to analyze drought in the study area, we used two different approaches for addressing the change in climate and particularly in precipitation, i) to assess the climate variability and change over the year, and ii) to assess the change within the year timescale (monthly, seasonally and annually) from 1971 to 2017. In first approach, precipitation data were used in a long time scale e.g. annual and more than one-year period. For this purpose, the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) was considered to quantify the rainfall deficit for multiple timescales. For the second approach, trend analysis (using the Mann-Kendall (M-K) test) was applied to precipitation in different time scales within the year. The results showed that the study area has no significant trend in annual rainfall, but in terms of seasonal rainfall, the magnitude of rainfall during summer revealed a positive significant trend in three stations. A significant negative and positive trend in monthly rainfall was observed only in April and August, respectively.
topic climate change
rainfall
multiple timescales
mann-kendall test
url https://doi.org/10.2478/limre-2019-0011
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