Fluctuating rainfall as one of the important cause for desertification in Iraq

Abstract

Desertification is regarded as one of the most problems over the entire world. There are many reasons lead to this problem. Climatic factors such (rainfall, temperature and evaporation) are some of them. Annual rainfall amount is one of the most important parameters that lead to desertification for this reason it chosen to achieve this research. In this paper rainfall data with the help of Geographic Information System (GIS) to produce maps of Iraqi surface climate. In order to achieve this goal, the available data from a number of climate monitoring stations located on the surface of the country has been were adopted. The annual mean of rainfall for the period from 1990 to 2010 has been used. The Iraqi shape file map was used to overlay the results. The output of the research are presented in GIS maps that demonstrating the variation of rainfall over the study period for the monitoring climate stations.