Drought mapping using Geoinformation technology for some sites in the Iraqi Kurdistan region

Abstract Iraq has suffered severely from drought in recent years and the year 2008 was the driest, particularly in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. This study incorporated Geoinformation technology into mapping the drought that severely affected the Kurdistan region in the years 2007–2008. Geoinformation technology provides support in the theories, methods and techniques for building, and development of Digital Earth aspect. Five vegetation, soil, water, and land surface temperature (LST) indices were applied to two Landsat 7 ETM+ imageries of June 2007 and June 2008, to assess the drought impacts in Erbil governorate Kurdistan during the study period. The indices that were employed in this study were Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Bare Soil Index, Normalized Differential Water Index, Tasseled Cap Transformation Wetness, and LST. The results revealed a significant decrease in the vegetative cover (56.7%) and a decline in soil/vegetation wetness (29.9%) of the total study area. Likewise, there was a significant reduction in the water bodies surface area in the region such as Dokan Lake, which lost 32.5% of its surface area in comparison with the previous year, 2007. The study results showed that the soil moisture content was the most effective actor on the vegetative cover, LST, and drought status in the study area.