Computation of Climatic Water Balance of AL-Sulaymania Meteorological Station for the Period 1980-2016, Kurdistan Region, Northeast of Iraq

Abstract

AL-Sulaymania city is located in the northeast of Iraq at an altitude of 845 m from the sea levelbetween longitudes (44 30 00 – 46 20 00) east and latitudes (34 33 00- 36 30 00) north. It covers an area of approximately 20000 km2. The study area includes several geological formations (from the oldest to the earliest), Balambo Formation (Early Cretaceous), Qumchuqa, Kometan, Shiranish, Tanjero, Kolosh, Sinjar Formation and Quaternary deposits. The climatic data recorded by AL-Sulaymania meteorological station for the period (1980-2016) shows that the total falling rain was (423.86) mm, the temperature was (13.88 ° C), relative humidity was (22.36%), wind speed was (2.08m / s), sunshine was (8.06 hours / day), and the total evaporation from free surfaces was (1747.4mm). The climate of the study area is wet in winter and dry in summer.Corrected potentialevapotranspiration was calculatedtheoretically byapplying Thornthwaite method, where the value was 589.02mm, the water surplus was also calculated, which accounted for 74.24% divided into surface runoffand its value was 41.02 mmand GroundwaterRecharge which was 92.65mm,whilethewater deficit represents25.76 % of theannualrainfall.