Identifying the Climatic Conditions in Iraq by Tracking Down Cooling Events in the North Atlantic Ocean in the Period 3000–0 BC

• Published in: Miscellanea Geographica
• Main Author: Muslih, Khamis D.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Walter de Gruyter GmbH 2014
• Subjects: North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/mgrsd-2014-0016; https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/mgrsd/18/3/article-p40.xml; https://www.sciendo.com/pdf/10.2478/mgrsd-2014-0016

Abstract North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), monthly averages of precipitation in the Baghdad station, and petrologic tracer proxy data for ocean properties in the North Atlantic (NA) have been used in an attempt to identify climatic conditions in Iraq during the study period. The study showed that contemporary changes in precipitation in Iraq are associated with NAO, as a negative relationship is found between them. Moreover, the study found that there is a strong negative correlation between NAOI and SST in NA, where drift ice indices explain between 33–36% of the NAOI variability. The prolonged of cold Holocene periods led to a radical oceanography and atmospheric changes in the NA and the Mediterranean Sea, effectively contributing to the prevalence of cold and drought in the EM, including Iraq. The analysis revealed as many as four intervals of significant cool drought phases prevailing over Iraq during the periods 2650–2500, 2200– 1900,1300–1200 and 1000–850 BC.