Investigation of Meteorological Drought Indices performance in Assessing and Mapping of Drought in Qazvin Province

Drought is one of the most chronic environmental phenomena that annually caused a lot of damage to human societies. In this study, the meteorological drought indices for drought assessment and mapping in Qazvin province were discussed. Indices used include CZI, MCZI, SPI, ZSI and DI. After collecting station’s precipitation data in the study area, drought intensity values using meteorological drought indices on the time scale of yearly was calculated. The results show that Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and deciles index (DI) is in first rank, ZSI in second rank and CZI and MCZI indexes are in third and fourth rank respectively in display the sever drought. ZSI index has the most similarities in results to the Standardized Precipitation Index. Also deciles index (DI) as regards the appropriate performance in display the sever drought has some exaggeration in displaying the sever drought.