Drought analysis of Erzincan Gümüşhane and Bayburt provinces by clustering and anova (Variance) methods

Drought, characterized by lack of precipitation, high evaporation and improper distribution of precipitation, is a climatic anomaly and a natural phenomenon with significant economic, social and environmental impacts. Drought has become one of the most interesting topics for researchers because of its great impact on water, air and climate events on earth. It is also of great importance in the management of water resources as it can occur anywhere in the world, in any climate, at any time. Because the design and development of water resources, water distribution and transmission systems, various agricultural sectors depend largely on how drought is managed and how this natural disaster is overcome. In this study, it was dealt with the issue of drought which is a destructive climate phenomenon by using 38 years rainfall and flow data of Erzincan, Gümüşhane and Bayburt provinces. Drought status was examined with Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Streamflow Drought Index (SDI), Aridity Index (AI), Reclamation Drought Index (RDI) and Percentage of Normal Index (PNI). Cluster analysis and one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) methods were used to examine the statistical status of drought indices used with all these studies.