Assessment of Relative Humidity Trends in the Troposphere over Iraq
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36473/zrwtrf41Keywords:
Trends, climate change, relative humidity, tropospheric.Abstract
Water vapor is one of the most important variables that affect the thermal balance of the Earth and the hydrological cycle, and the hydrological cycle and relative humidity are key measures of atmospheric moisture. Therefore, the current study aims to assess the temporal and spatial trends of relative humidity variations on an annual and seasonal scale for twelve stations over the period (1971–2020) at six levels (surface, RH1000, RH850, RH700, RH500, and RH300). This study relies on observed data from the General Authority for Meteorology at the surface level and reanalysis data for upper levels in the troposphere from the European site, using the Mk trend test and Sen's slope. The results indicate a general decreasing trend at all levels, with the percentage of negative trends ranging from 52% to 79% for all stations, with the highest percentage of negative trends at the RH1000 level. The highest annual change magnitude (-0.72) % occurred over the decade, while seasonal changes showed significant variations, especially in winter and spring, which experienced the most decline. The rate of change in winter (-1.78, -1.26, -0.94, -0.88) % for the decade for levels RH850, RH1000, surface, RH700, respectively, was observed with the southern regions experiencing the most decline. Conversely, autumn and summer showed a noticeable increase at the surface and some levels, with the highest change magnitude (-0.86) % for the decade at the RH500 level. Correlation results revealed strong relationships between the surface level and upper levels, with the highest correlation coefficient (0.78) statistically significant. This study serves as evidence of climate change in Iraq.
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