Agro-Climatic Zones (ACZ) Using Climate Satellite Data in Iraq Republic

Abstract

Abstract Agro-climatology is highly worthy in the identification of agro-climates with the climate change conditions to introduce new agricultural crops. Agro-Climatic Zones permits recognizing areas with different potential products according to their climate change environmental conditions. This study aims to produce Agro-Climatic Zones map using satellite-based climate data in Iraq. Climate data based on satellite data were downloaded and processed with a spatial resolution of 0.25º, then interpolated using the spline method. The annual precipitation was downloaded from TRMM_3B43 v7 satellite data from 1998 to 2018 and the average annual air temperature for the period 2000 to 2018 was downloaded from the GLDAS Model (NOAH025_M v2.1). The GIS-based approach was implemented to create the necessary datasets and to develop an Agro-Climatic Zones map in the Iraq Republic. The results have mapped Iraq republic Agro-Climatic Zones into five zones, which are arid, cool winter, very warm summer (ACZ 1 represent about 48.8 % of the total area); arid, mild winter, very warm summer (ACZ 2 about 36.8 % of the total area); semi-arid, cool winter, very warm summer (ACZ 3 about 8.8 % of the total area); semi-humid to Mediterranean, cool winter, very warm summer (ACZ 4 about 4.2 % of the total area); and very humid to humid, cold to cool winter, warm summer (ACZ 5 about 1.4 % of the total area).