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An investigation of the Iranian climatic changes by considering the precipitation, temperature, and relative humidity parameters

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Abstract

The present study tends to describe the survey of climatic changes in the case of the eastern and central areas of Iran and, to some extent, the northern parts. The monthly and yearly change trends in the minimum, maximum and mean temperatures, relative humidity, and the precipitation were surveyed for 26 synoptic stations in Iran during a 55-year period. The study was carried out by using the τ-Kendall test. The results showed the same temperature changes for the centrally located stations as the eastern and northern ones. Most of the stations in Zagros showed no significant temperature changes. A significant decrease in the precipitation was seen in summer in different stations. Most of the eastern and centrally located stations showed a decrease in relative humidity trend, while this condition was not recorded in Zagros and northern part of Iran. The present results also showed that the upward trend of minimum air temperature had an effect in increasing the mean air temperature in the stations with temperature ascending trend. This effect of minimum temperature was significantly more than that of the maximum temperature, which could be the result of increasing the amount of greenhouse gases and the reflection of received thermal energies, from land through the night. This increase in the temperature and a decrease in relative humidity would cause an increase in the evaporation of the received precipitation.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the efforts of the Desert Region Research Institute, University of Yazd, Yazd, Iran for supporting the present work.

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Correspondence to Mohammad Reza Kousari.

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Kousari, M.R., Ekhtesasi, M.R., Tazeh, M. et al. An investigation of the Iranian climatic changes by considering the precipitation, temperature, and relative humidity parameters. Theor Appl Climatol 103, 321–335 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-010-0304-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-010-0304-9

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