Abstract Summary
Drought is a climatic phenomenon characterized by a significant decrease in precipitation over an extended period, leading to water scarcity. Globally, this issue affects many regions of the world. In Morocco, drought is particularly concerning as the country is located in an arid and semi-arid region, making it especially vulnerable to this challenge. The primary objective of this study is to characterize climatic drought in the Bouregreg watershed (Morocco) for the period 1973-2023 through the calculation of the The Mean Deviation Index (MDX) and the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) at different time scales: 1 month, 6 months, 12 months, and 24 months, for the three studied stations: Lalla Chafia, Ouljet Haboub, and Sidi Mohamed Chrif. The Mean Deviation Index showed that 2010 was the wettest year, while 1983, 1995, and 2007 were the driest. The longest dry periods occurred from 1998 to 2002, and the longest wet periods from 2008 to 2011. In the short term (1 and 6 months), the SPI indicates that the study area experienced moderate drought for 6.9% to 10.3% of the total analyzed time. In the medium term (12 months), 11% to 12.6% of the analyzed time recorded moderate drought. In the long term (24 months), SPI values show that 11% to 15.4% of the total analyzed time recorded moderate drought. Furthermore, the spatialization of the SPI revealed that the southern part of the Bouregreg watershed is more humid, with positive SPI values, while the north is dry, with negative SPI values.
