Trend assessment of climate changes in Khuzestan Province, Iran

In this paper, according to the data of 17 weather stations in Khuzestan during 1951–2012, the trend of climate changes and its severity were evaluated. A consistent correlation was highlighted for trends of De Martonne index as indicator of climate and temperature index in some stations. Based on the results of the temperature analysis, 88.31% of the Province became warmer, 6.3% became colder, and 5.3% did not show significant changes. The precipitation in the 7% of the province increased, in 67.2% of the area decreased, and 25.8% of the province did not show any significant changes. About the climate changes: 67.2% of Province became drier and 32.7% of the area showed no significant changes. A hazard classification was used for climate change based on trends of temperature and the aridity index of De Martonne during the period. The results showed 18.8% under moderate class, 40.3% under severe class, and 40.9% very severe class. This contribution provided the first experimental data-based evidence demonstrating the link between the global warming and the intensification of aridity in most parts of Khuzestan. This finding concluded more desertification and frequency and intensity of droughts.