Drought Analysis Using the Entropy Weight-based TOPSIS Method: A Case Study of Kars, Turkey.

The aim of this study is to conduct a drought analysis at Kars station in the northeast of Turkey using six different meteorological parameters by utilizing The Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method based on the entropy weight method. As of the input parameters of the study, the mean monthly rainfall, mean monthly maximum and minimum temperature, mean monthly relative humidity, mean monthly wind speed, mean monthly sunshine duration, obtained by the Kars meteorology station for 1990 and 2018 period are used. In the second section of the study, Mann–Kendall trend analysis was applied to TOPSIS results. The findings of this study indicated that the drought tends to increase in January, May and October. In the final section of the study, multivariate regression analysis, which accepts six different parameters as independent variables and TOPSIS drought index results as dependent variables, was performed. According to the findings of this study, there were no cases of extreme wet, severe wet, medium wet, severe drought and extreme drought at the Kars station. The driest months are May and June. The wettest months are March and November. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]