Tarım Bilimleri Dergisi Journal of Agricultural Sciences Tar. Bil. Der. Dergi web sayfası: Journal homepage: www.agri.ankara.edu.tr/dergi www.agri.ankara.edu.tr/journal Drought Analysis of the Seyhan Basin by Using Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and L-moments Emre TOPÇUa , Neslihan SEÇKİNa aÇukurova University, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Department of Civil Engineering, 01330, Adana, TURKEY ARTICLE INFO 22 (2016) 196-215 Research Article DOI: 10.1501/Tarimbil_0000001381 Corresponding Author: Neslihan SEÇKİN, E-mail:
[email protected], Tel: +90 (322) 338 60 84 Received: 03 April 2014, Received in Revised Form: 21 January 2015, Accepted: 28 January 2015 ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to monitor drought in the Seyhan Basin by using Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) based on a long term monthly precipitation of 11 meteorological stations and secondly, to also carry out regional frequency analysis using the index flood procedure coupled with the L-moments method based on recorded precipitation data of the most drought month for each year acquired from Standardized Precipitation Index method for each station. The SPI values of each station for 3, 6, 9 and 12-month time scales were calculated. According to the results, all stations are on the boundary of drought. Research results show that the wettest station is Ulukışla and the most drought station is Karaisalı with respect to the average SPI values. According to the drought frequency values, however, the station having the highest drought occurrence frequency is the Karaisalı station, whereas the station having the lowest drought frequency is the Tufanbeyli station. Results show that the Seyhan Basin is on the boundary of drought and mildly wet.