In recent years, the problem of rising salinity levels in the Shatt al-Arab river in southern Iraq has been repeated, which has directly affected the living and health situation and the agricultural activity of these areas. Six sampling stations were selected along Shatt al-Arab to estimate the concentration of total dissolved solids (TDS) in the river; these stations included the following: Qurna, Labani, City Centre, Kateban, Corniche, and Sihan. In addition, three Landsat-8 satellite images which were taken at the same time as collected samples also used for detecting the salinity in the river. After processing of atmospheric correction and inserted remote sensing indices, the reflectance of water extracted from satellite images was used to express the spectral characteristics of different TDS concentrations. Correlation and regression were used to obtain accurate models for detecting the salinity depending on the spectral reflectance of Landsat 8 operational land image OLI. The results presented Pearson correlation (r) value of 0.70, 0.97, and 0.71, and correlation coefficient (R²) of 0.56, 0.94, and 0.85 between field data with spectral data of salinity index 2 (SI-2) derived from the green and blue bands of Landsat obtained in 2015, 2017, and 2018 respectively. In conclusion, remote sensing and GIS technologies coupled with spectral modeling are useful tools for providing a solution of future water resources planning and management, and also offer great undertaking as a means to improve knowledge of water quality and support water decision making.

Marshes represent a unique ecosystem covering a large area of southern Iraq. In a major environmental disaster, the marshes of Iraq were drained, especially during the 1990s. Since then, droughts and the decrease in water imports from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers from Turkey and Iran have prevented them from regaining their former extent. The aim of this research is to extract the values of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) for the period 1977–2017 from Landsat 2 MSS (multispectral scanner), Landsat 8 OLI (operational land imager) and Sentinel 2 MSI (multi-spectral imaging mission) satellite images and use supervised classification to quantify land and water cover change. The results from the two satellites (Landsat 2 and Landsat 8) are compared with Sentinel 2 to determine the best tool for detecting changes in land and water cover. We also assess the potential impacts of climate change through the study of the annual average maximum temperature and precipitation in different areas in the marshes for the period 1981–2016. The NDVI analysis and image classification showed the degradation of vegetation and water bodies in the marshes, as vast areas of natural vegetation and agricultural lands disappeared and were replaced with barren areas. The marshes were influenced by climatic change, including rising temperature and the diminishing amount of precipitation during 1981–2016.

The energy sector is integral to the wellbeing of the entire Iraqi economy and will remain so well into the future. In the current study, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) methodology was used to estimate CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O emissions from oil refining and electricity generation in Iraq for a period exceeding 25 years. From 1990, Iraq experienced two wars and an economic siege, then faced political, social, and security instability, which affected its energy production. The results showed that the CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O emissions from the oil refining and electricity generation in Iraq experienced a sharp decline in the years 1991, 2003, and 2007 due to a decrease in the production of oil derivatives in refineries, according to political and security conditions. The total CO₂ emissions from the types of fuel used in electricity generation in Iraq was approximately 14,000 Gg and 58,000 Gg in 1990 and 2017, respectively. The increase in CO₂ emissions was greater than 300% between 1990 and 2017. The continued use of poor types of fuel, such as fuel oil and crude oil, will lead to an increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from these sources, and higher levels of environmental pollution.

The concept of temperature change is closely related to climate change. Global warming is one of its most prominent manifestations, and the effects of this will be significant on the climate. It will lead to an increase in the intensity of the air cycle, the encroachment of climatic regions towards the poles, an increase in the frequency of extreme weather phenomena, a change in the distribution of heat and rain in different cities of the world, and a rise in sea levels and the threat of most coastal areas. The research aims to determine the variation in temperature, the amount of rain, and its distribution system in the (Basra, Thi Qar, and Missan) during the period (1998 – 2020), and diagnosis of changes in temperature, rain amount, and their cause, as well as its distribution system by analyzing the trend of change in the annual averages of temperature and annual rainfall amounts for the same study period. The results of spatial analysis using GIS for monthly temperature average data for the same period indicated that the general trend of temperature distribution in all study stations is high, and the peaks during the months (June, July, August, and September), where we notice a large and clear increase, especially in recent years, if compared with rates in previous years. As for the rain data analysis in Iraq, the study found that it was limited to five months (Nov., Dec., Jan., March, April), and October month, which represents the beginning of the rainy season in most monitoring stations, and the month of March, which represents its end, did not record any amount of rain, and this means that the depressions which Iraq exposed to during these two months are unable to produce heavy amounts of the rain because of their shallowness, from the spatial distribution of the amount of rain in the study area that the rainfall rates are reduced to the highest level and its irregular distribution, and therefore reflected in the decrease in water resources in the areas under study. A large amount of daily precipitation in Iraq is due to the recurrence of three atmospheric depressions the (Mediterranean, combined, and Sudanese) depression. These responsible depressions are distinguished by their differences from one region to another, the short duration of their stay and recurrence, the weather conditions that dominate them, and the pressure patterns accompanying them in the upper atmosphere layers. Or some of these depressions reach dryness or are accompanied by non-rainy clouds. This makes Iraq’s rains few, leading to many repercussions on climate, the environment, humans, and various activities.

Petroleum refinery effluents are among the most important pollutants of the natural ecosystem and are wastes resulting from the processing of crude oil, fuel, a