An investigation of near surface wind speed trends in arid and semiarid regions of Iran

Wind plays an important role on the ecosystems and hydrological cycles besides other meteorological parameters such as temperature, precipitation, sunshine, and relative humidity. It strongly affects evapotranspiration, especially in arid and semiarid regions where there are serious problems in rega...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Theoretical and applied climatology 2013-10, Vol.114 (1-2), p.153-168
Main Authors: Kousari, Mohammad Reza, Ahani, Hossein, Hakimelahi, Hemila
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aquatic Pollution
Arid zones
Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution
Atmospheric Sciences
Climatology
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Ecosystems
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
Investigations
Management
Meteorology
Original Paper
Rain and rainfall
Surface chemistry
Waste Water Technology
Water
Water Management
Water Pollution Control
Wind power
Winds and their effects
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Wind plays an important role on the ecosystems and hydrological cycles besides other meteorological parameters such as temperature, precipitation, sunshine, and relative humidity. It strongly affects evapotranspiration, especially in arid and semiarid regions where there are serious problems in regard to water resource management. Evaluating the wind speed trend can provide good information for future agricultural planning. This study was conducted in order to investigate the wind speed trends over 24 synoptic meteorological stations located in arid and semiarid regions of Iran from 1975 to 2005. Near-surface wind speed was trended by nonparametric Mann–Kendall test spatially and temporally in three time scales (annual, seasonal, and monthly). Then, Sen’s slope estimator was used to determine the amount of the changes; furthermore, 10-year moving average low-pass filter was applied to show general trends. Finally, the smoothed time series derived from the mentioned filter were classified in three clusters for each time series and then mapped to show their spatial distribution pattern. Results showed insignificant and significant, increasing and decreasing trends during the surveyed time. Wind speeds in less than 50 % of stations changed statistically in all time scales, and in most cases, the frequency of the upward trends was more than that of downward ones. The spatial distribution of significant wind speed showed that the increase mostly occurred in eastern part. Clustering gave us the turning point around 1990. Clearly, when clusters were mapped, they indicated the same pattern as the Z value maps derived from Mann–Kendall test which meant that the outputs of the mentioned method confirmed the other one. As the wind speed trends in different stations likely to follow the previous evapotranspiration (ET 0 ) trend results in Iran, it confirms that wind speed was an effective parameter on ET 0 , even though other parameters should be considered too.
ISSN:0177-798X
1434-4483
DOI:10.1007/s00704-012-0811-y