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

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.

Keywords

• iraq
• north atlantic oscillation
• drift ice indices
• drought intervals
• eastern mediterranean