Trend assessment of climate changes in Iran

Abstract

In this paper, according to the data of 40 stations in Iran during 1967-2014, the trend of climate changes and its severity are evaluated. A consistent correlation is highlighted for trends of De Martonne index as indicator of climate change and temperature rise in some stations. Based on the results of the temperature analysis, 70% of the country has become warmer, 3% has become colder and 27% has faced without significant changes. The precipitation in the 30.5% of the country has been decreased and 69.5% of the country didn’t show any significant changes. About the climate changes derived from climate index: 38.6 % of the area of the country has become drier and 61.4% of the area didn’t show any significant changes. A hazard classification for climate change was used showing 21% of the country under without or no change class, 22% under moderate class, 37.2% under severe class and 19.5% under very severe class. These results correspond to more desertification, frequency and intensity of droughts and observing lost lakes during the last decades in the study area.

Keywords

• Iran
• Climate change
• De Martonne index
• trend