Study of Rainfall Characteristics of Marand County

Precipitation, as one of the main climatic elements, could be also regarded as the most important environmental index in any geographic area. In the past few years, Marand County, located in the north-west of Iran, has experienced some meaningful variations in rainfall values. Accordingly, the main objective of this study was to extract temporal and spatial distribution of Marand County rainfall values, using a few simple graphical, statistical and a Geographic Information System (GIS) procedures.Having these purposes, all available rainfall records, taking from each existent climatic station, were analyzed. At the first step, primary descriptive parameters including: raw data, smoothed values, averages and fluctuating factors have been graphically displayed. At the second stage, all seasonal and annual rainfall distribution maps were calculated and mapped applying a GIS technique. As a whole, the results found were indicators of some meaningful variations and fluctuations in all scales over the time addressed