Drought Monitoring in Northern Iraq

Introduction

Drought is a temporary aberration occurs in all climate regimes. Agriculture is the first sector affected by the drought, because it reflects the availability of soil water to meet plant demands during the growing season. The end of drought measures by the mitigating of negative impacts, not by the returning of normal precipitations. Drought should be monitored to determine its intensity, duration, and spatial characteristics, this information are essential components for better drought policy to protect drought vulnerable zones before, during and after drought. Management of the available water resources in each country to meet basic needs for various uses, is not just a technology but is a form of governance (provisional agenda, 2007).

In the age of technology, GIS- applications allow us to do what we could not do before. The proper monitoring of the drought requires rapid and continuous data and information generation or gathering( ). Remote sensing techniques provide baseline data against which future changes can be compared. With the help of environmental satellite, drought can be detected 4-6 weeks earlier than before, and its impact on agriculture can be diagnosed far in advance of harvest (Kogan, 1990).

This study interests with using these applications in efficient way to reduce negative impacts of drought.

Research question

How to use monitoring tool to determine drought status for better drought policy?

Theoretical perspective

Drought monitoring is a key component to formulate drought preparedness plan.

Study objectives

This study aims to:

* Predict drought emergence and severity for some parts from Iraq using the NDVI and SPI indices.

* Connect science and data with policy for practical regional planning and management.

Approach and methods

Framework for empirically research approach

Theoretically, the study will overview and discuss the importance of drought monitoring tool for improving planning in drought mitigation in addition to review the risk of not having act.

Entailments

- Satellite data (NOAA - AVHRR)

- Meteorological data.

- Agricultural data.

- Software (ESRI Arcview 3.3, ESRI Arcview 9.2 as a main image processing and analyzing softwares)