Study of trend and relationship between meteorological and hydrogeological droughts of Sufi Chai and Mordagh Chai watershed

Drought is a natural disaster, which its intensity and frequency of occurrence and the affected area and the amount of damage, is more important than other natural disasters. In this study, successive periods of meteorological and hydrological drought were investigated using SPI and SDI index in Sufi Chai and Mordagh Chai basins in the Southeast of Urmia Lake, and the time delay between the two occurrences was identified. Therefore, 10 rain gauges and 7 hydrometric station data was used. Range and area droughts in ArcGIS media were plotted according to the mean-square error minimum using methods of the kriging and IDW and also droughts trend was investigated by classic Mann-Kendall and modified Mann–Kendall droughts methods. The results showed that the occurrence of the two periods of severe and long-term meteorological drought has led to the simultaneous occurrence of hydrological drought in the basins. There is a significant correlation at 99% level between meteorological and hydrological droughts which is stronger for simultaneous occurrence and one month lag time. According to drought zoning maps, the Northwest region has more potential in the terms of frequency and severity of meteorological drought occurrence which is important in the water resources management.