Zoning Climatic Elements of Azerbaijan Using the GIS

Water is one of the main factors of natural environment which has a great influence on other environmental factors and human activities. Climate elements have direct and indirect impact on human life. The climate type of each region represents vegetation, soil, animal life, water status, and, to a large extent, human economic activities including industrial, agricultural, tourism, etc. are controlled by the elements of the climate (Hobbs 1981) Climatic elements and parameters have applications in most of regional construction plans. Without attention to climatic elements and their exact study, most regional planning will certainly face difficulties. One of the best methods for recognizing the climatic elements of a region is having a comprehensive and basic information about these elements and their zoning. The zoning of climatic elements such as radiation, temperature, precipitation, humidity, pressure, etc. and preparation of their zoning maps can be used as a tool for planners. Today, Geographic Information System (GIS) technology is instrumental in geography. Accurate and advanced software of GIS (such as Arc / info, Arc / view, Arc /... GIS) and modern hardware (fast computers, scanners, plotters, printers, etc.), have, in addition to facilitating the work of geographers in the study and analysis of various scientific issues, increased the accuracy and speed of their operation. Currently, most branches of the science of geography utilize the GIS in urban, rural, regional, land lay, hydrologic, meteorological, environmental, etc. analyses and studies. The large region of ​​Azerbaijan (East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan and Ardebil) in the northwest of the country is one of the regions of the country with climatic diversity. Due to different topographical conditions and passage of western air masses, special climatic conditions have dominated the region. In this study, the elements of the Azerbaijan climate were analyzed and zoned using Arc / View software. Finally, the climatic zoning maps of the area were drawn up for each of the parameters.