Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Spatial and temporal changes of precipitation concentration in Fars province, southwestern Iran

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Spatial and temporal changes in precipitation concentration are investigated using precipitation concentration index (CI), precipitation concentration period (PCP) and precipitation concentration degree (PCD). The non-parametric Mann–Kendall test is used to detect monotonic trends in CI time series. The study area is Fars province (southwestern Iran), represented by 47 recording gauges with daily precipitation time series records of at least 30 years, ending in 2008. The results revealed that based on CI values two sub-regions were identified, the central/northern sub-region with low CI values (high rainfall depths/several rainy days) and the southern sub-region with low rainfall/few rainy days. PCP analysis indicated an earlier arrival of the rainy season in western parts compared to eastern Fars province and also that annual precipitation mainly falls in winter. However, PCD analysis revealed that annual precipitation in northwestern Fars is less concentrated in several months, whereby, concentration in several months is observed in other parts of the study area. Significant upward trends at 5 % significance level is detected in 19 out of 47 stations with the tendency for occurrence of a rather high percentage of the annual total precipitation in a few days, which has the potential to cause major floods or droughts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abolverdi J, Khalili D (2010a) Development of regional rainfall annual maxima for southwestern Iran by L-moments. J Water Resour Manag 24:2501–2526

  • Abolverdi J, Khalili D (2010b) Probabilistic analysis of extreme regional meteorological droughts by L-moments in a semi-arid environment. J Theor Appl Climatol 102:351–366

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abolverdi J, Ferdosifar Gh, Khalili D, Kamgar-Haghighi AA, Abdolahipour Haghighi M (2014) Recent trends in regional air temperature and precipitation and links to global climate change in the Maharlo watershed, southwestern Iran. J Meteorol Atmos Phys 126:177–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alijani B, O’Brien J, Yarnal B (2008) Spatial analysis of precipitation intensity and concentration in Iran. J Theor Appl Climatol 94:107–124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Apaydin H, Erpul G, Bayramin I, Gabriels D (2006) Evaluation of indices for characterizing the distribution and concentration of precipitation: a case for the region of Southeastern Anatolia Project, Turkey. J Hydrol 328:726–732

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banimahd SA, Khalili D, Kamgar-Haghighi AA, Zand-parsa SH (2014) In-depth investigation of precipitation-based climate change and cyclic variation in different climatic zones. Theor Appl Climatol. 116:565–583. doi:10.1007/s00704-013-0970-5

  • Bordi I, Frigio S, Parenti P, Speranza A, Sutera A (2001) The analysis of the standardized precipitation index in the Mediterranean area: regional patterns. J Ann Geofis 44(5–6):979–993

    Google Scholar 

  • Coscarelli R, Caloiero T (2012) Analysis of daily and monthly rainfall concentration in Southern Italy (Calabria region). J Hydrol 416–417:145–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Croitoru AE, Chiotoroiu BC, Todorova VI, Torica V (2013) Changes in precipitation extremes on the Black Sea Western Coast. J Global Planet Change 102:10–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Luis M, Gonzalez-Hidalgo JC, Brunetti M, Longares LA (2011) Precipitation concentration changes in Spain 1946–2005. Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 11:1259–1265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dhorde AG, Zarenistanak M, Kripalani RH, Preethi B (2014) Precipitation analysis over southwest Iran: trends and projections. J Meteorol Atmos Phys 124(3–4):205–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dinpashoh Y, Fakheri-Fard A, Moghaddam M, Jahanbakhsh S, Mirnia M (2004) Selection of variables for the purpose of regionalization of Iran’s precipitation climate using multivariate methods. J Hydrol 297(1–4):109–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gocic M, Trajkovic S (2013) Analysis of precipitation and drought data in Serbia over the period 1980–2010. J Hydrol 494:32–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guttman NB (1998) Comparing the palmer drought severity index and the standardized precipitation index. J Am Water Resour Assoc 34(1):113–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helsel DR, Hirsch RM (2002) Statistical methods in water resources. Geological Survey, USA, p 524

    Google Scholar 

  • Jolliffe IT, Hope PB (1996) Representation of daily rainfall distributions using normalized rainfall curves. Int J Climatol 16:1157–1163

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kendall MG (1975) Rank Correlation Methods. Charles Griffin, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Lettenmaier DP, Potter KW (1985) Testing flood frequency estimation methods using a regional flood generation model. J Water Resour Res 21:1903–1914

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li X, Jiang F, Li L, Wang G (2011) Spatial and temporal variability of precipitation concentration index, concentration degree and concentration period in Xinjiang, China. Int J Climatol 31:1679–1693

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu Q, Yang Z, Cui B (2008) Spatial and temporal variability of annual precipitation during 1961–2006 in Yellow River Basin, China. J Hydrol 361(3–4):330–338

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mann HB (1945) Non-parametric test against trend. Econometrica 13:245–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin-Vide J (2004) Spatial distribution of a daily precipitation concentration index in Peninsular Spain. Int J Climatol 24:959–971

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michiels E, Gabriels D, Hartmann Ghent R (1992) Using the Seasonal and temporal precipitation concentration index for characterizing the monthly rainfall distribution in Spain. Catena 19:43–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ngongondo C, Xu C-Y, GottschalkL Alemaw B (2011) Evaluation of spatial and temporal characteristics of rainfall in Malawi: a case of data scarce region. J Theor Appl Climatol 106:79–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oguntunde PG, Abiodun BJ, Lischeid G (2011) Rainfall trends in Nigeria, 1901–2000. J Hydrol 411(3–4):207–218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olascoaga MJ (1950) Some aspects of Argentine rainfall. Tellus 2(4):312–318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riehl H (1949) Some aspects of Hawaiian rainfall. B Am Meteorol Soc 3(5):176–187

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodrigo FS, Barriendos M (2008) Reconstruction of seasonal and annual rainfall variability in the Iberian peninsula (16th–20th centuries) from documentary data. J Global Planet Change 63:243–257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saf B (2009) Regional flood frequency analysis using L-moments for the west Mediterranean Region of Turkey. J Water Resour Manag 23(3):531–551

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scholz G, Quinton JN, Strauss P (2008) Soil erosion from sugar beet in Central Europe in response to climate change induced seasonal precipitation variations. Catena 72:91–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw G, Wheeler D (1994) Statistical techniques in geographical analysis. Halsted Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Shi W, Yu X, Liao W, Wang Y, Jia B (2013) Spatial and temporal variability of daily precipitation concentration in the Lancang River basin, China. J Hydrol 495:197–207

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shi P, Qiao X, Chen X, Zhou M, Qu S, Ma X, Zhang Z (2014) Spatial distribution and temporal trends in daily and monthly precipitation concentration indices in the upper reaches of the Hyai River, China. J Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess 28:201–212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skinner BS, Porter SC (1987) Physical geology. Wiley, New-York, p 750

    Google Scholar 

  • Suhaila J, Jemain AA (2011) Spatial analysis of daily rainfall intensity and concentration index in Peninsular Malaysia. J Theor Appl Climatol. doi:10.1007/s00704-011-0529-2

    Google Scholar 

  • Tabari H, Hosseinzadeh Talaee P (2011) Temporal variability of precipitation over Iran: 1966–2005. J Hydrol 396(3–4):313–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Terzago S, Fratianni S, Cremonini R (2013) Winter precipitation in Western Italian Alps (1926–2010). J Meteorol Atmos Phys 119(3–4):125–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Von Storch VH (1995) Misuses of statistical analysis in climate research. In: von Storch H, Navarra A (eds) Analysis of climate variability: applications of statistical techniques. Springer, Berlin, pp 11–26

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Xu ZX, Takeuchi K, Ishidaira H (2003) Monotonic trend and step changes in Japanese precipitation. J Hydrol 279(1–4):144–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang F, Hanjra MA, Hua F, Shu Y, Li Y (2013) Analysis of climate variability in the Manas River Valley, North-Western China (1956–2006) J Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change. doi:10.1007/s11027-013-9462-2

  • Zhang LJ, Qian YF (2003) Annual distribution features of precipitation in China and their interannual variations. J Acta Meteorological Sinica 17:146–163

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Q, Xu C-Y, Gemmer M, Chen YD, Liu C (2009) Changing properties of precipitation concentration in the Pearl River basin, China. J Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess 23:377–385

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Regional Water Company of Fars, Fars, Iran

    Javad Abolverdi

  2. Regional Water Company of Bushehr, Bushehr, Iran

    Ghasem Ferdosifar

  3. Water Engineering Department, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

    Davar Khalili & Ali Akbar Kamgar-Haghighi

Authors
  1. Javad Abolverdi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ghasem Ferdosifar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Davar Khalili
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ali Akbar Kamgar-Haghighi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Javad Abolverdi.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: L. Gimeno.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Abolverdi, J., Ferdosifar, G., Khalili, D. et al. Spatial and temporal changes of precipitation concentration in Fars province, southwestern Iran. Meteorol Atmos Phys 128, 181–196 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-015-0414-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-015-0414-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation