Comparison of Drought Indices in the Case of the Ceyhan Basin
Mehmet Dikici, Murat Aksel
Abstract
The issue of mitigating the expected effects of drought has become quite prominent within the scope of planning, development, and management of water resources affected negatively by climate change. An integrated management approach must be planned primarily for sustainable water management. To conduct drought risk analyses, a sufficient amount of data must be available. The historical process of the basin must be known, and there must be a plan that is assessed with several indices. In this study, we carried out drought risk analyses on the Ceyhan Basin using meteorological, hydrogeological, and hydrological data to determine indices and indicators available in the literature. We compared indices, examined the correlations among them, and reached an outcome. All of the indices used in the study showed that the drought was in the same periodicity in the basin, and a slow progressing drought occurred in the basin. When the trend of the last 50 years of precipitation in the basin is analyzed, it is evident that there is a general decrease. In a general view, decision-makers shall provide drought management plans for the basin.