Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Trends of Meteorological Droughts in the Wadi Mina Basin, Northwest Algeria
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Laboratory of Water & Environment, Faculty of Nature and Life Sciences, University Hassiba Benbouali of Chlef, Chlef 02180, Algeria
2
Georessources, Environment and Natural Risks Laboratory, University of Oran, 2 Mohamed Ben Ahmed, P.O. Box 1015, El M’naouer, Oran 31000, Algeria
3
Department of Sanitary Engineering and Water Management, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Mickiewicza 24/28 Street, 30-059 Krakow, Poland
4
Department of Civil Engineering, The City College of New York, New York, NY 10031, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Athanasios Loukas
Water 2021, 13(21), 3103; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13213103
Received: 14 September 2021
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Revised: 25 October 2021
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Accepted: 31 October 2021
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Published: 4 November 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hydrology in Water Resources Management)
Drought has become a recurrent phenomenon in Algeria in the last few decades. Significant drought conditions were observed during the late 1980s and late 1990s. The agricultural sector and water resources have been under severe constraints from the recurrent droughts. In this study, spatial and temporal dimensions of meteorological droughts in the Wadi Mina basin (4900 km2) were investigated to assess vulnerability. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) method and GIS were used to detail temporal and geographical variations in drought based on monthly records for the period 1970–2010 at 16 rainfall stations located in the Wadi Mina basin. Trends in annual SPI for stations in the basin were analyzed using the Mann–Kendall test and Sen’s slope estimator. Results showed that the SPI was able to detect historical droughts in 1982/83, 1983/84, 1989/90, 1992/93, 1993/94, 1996/97, 1998/99, 1999/00, 2004/05 and 2006/07. Wet years were observed in 1971/72, 1972/73, 1995/96, 2008/09 and 2009/10. Six out of 16 stations had significant decreasing precipitation trends (at 95% confidence), whereas no stations had significant increasing precipitation trends. Based on these findings, measures to ameliorate and mitigate the effects of droughts, especially the dominant intensity types, on the people, community and environment are suggested.
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Keywords:
drought; trends; SPI; mina basin; Algeria
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MDPI and ACS Style
Achite, M.; Wałęga, A.; Toubal, A.K.; Mansour, H.; Krakauer, N. Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Trends of Meteorological Droughts in the Wadi Mina Basin, Northwest Algeria. Water 2021, 13, 3103. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13213103
AMA Style
Achite M, Wałęga A, Toubal AK, Mansour H, Krakauer N. Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Trends of Meteorological Droughts in the Wadi Mina Basin, Northwest Algeria. Water. 2021; 13(21):3103. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13213103
Chicago/Turabian StyleAchite, Mohammed, Andrzej Wałęga, Abderrezak Kamel Toubal, Hamidi Mansour, and Nir Krakauer. 2021. "Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Trends of Meteorological Droughts in the Wadi Mina Basin, Northwest Algeria" Water 13, no. 21: 3103. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13213103
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