فصلنامه فضای جغرافیایی
پیاپی 28 (زمستان 1388)

Drought refers to random characteristic of natural phenomena, brought about by the irregular deficit or shortage of available water. It affects the plant growth and reduces its yield. To estimate the intensity and the frequency of droughts will help reduce the damaging effect of drought. In this study we have used the water-budget methods and Thornthwaite's aridity index and its standard deviation for Ramsar during1956-2008 to show the frequency and the intensity of drought effects in this place. Results showed that there was a normal monthly trend of the year. In this station, there is water deficit and the months that have water surplus. We found that this station every ten years will affect 3 or 4 times severe droughts and the profanity of drought is 0.4. For the year 2001 the rainfall was good but the drought effect was also severe and in the year 2002, the rainfall was less than the disastrous effect of drought.

The geographical situation and the diversity of natural phenomena put Iran in the fifth position in having abundant natural attractions. There are some problems and challenges in Iran in attracting ecotourists from other countries. On this basis, the present study aims at the recognition of the obstacles that influence the attraction of natural tourists and proposing the appropriate methods for developing ecotourism in the country. The research type is “qualitative” and its method is “descriptive-analytical” using library and documental references. Findings of the study show many challenges in ecotourism industry in Iran, in a way that each year from the sheer of national product of each family around $90.000 is paid to the global market to promote the tourism and ecotourism, whereas a little portion is devoted to Iran from this market.

Necessity for energy is rising very fast by the increasing industrial development and presenting world energy cycle. In order to obtain new and substitute energy sources it is estimated that there exists more than five mps of wind speed at the altitude of 10 meters in more than one fourth of earth lands.This paper has studied appropriate places to install wind turbines in East Azerbaijan Province, by determination of wind energy density using air density variation with height and temperature. It has also determined proportionate places for wind energy utilization with presentation of wind velocity distribution in seven synoptic stations of the Province using wind rose diagrams. Results show that Sahand and Jolfa Stations have significant frequencies of wind speed distribution in the velocities over five m/s and can be taken into account as windy regions for making wind farms.

Religious–cultural ceremonies have roots in believes and convictions of a nation or a society. Nowadays these ceremonies are considered as cultural attractions for tourism. In different eras, they were prevalent among people as celebrations and mourning ceremonies and in many cases they were presented in the form of dramas. Because revival of traditional ceremonies in all countries worldwide was used as a means for developing cultural tourism, therefore, introducing one of the most moving mourning ceremonies in Iran will represent a historical event for all Shiite Moslems in the world. These mourning ceremonies can be utilized as part of tourism development for the benefits of cultural tourism in Iran.In this study, we used practical and cohort research. Data collection was based on library research and field study (measurement) within the study scope. We used observation tools, questionnaire, interviews, and survey method in a descriptive-analytical and inferential- analytical statistical analysis.With the help of two-sample statistical model, and use of “t test for two independent groups” we compared the opinions expressed by bazaar merchants, merchants around bazaar, mourning groups and relevant officials about Tasooa and Ashoora ceremonies and their potential as Religious-cultural tourism.The study showed that Tasooa and Ashoora ceremonies in the opinion of bazaar merchants, merchants around bazaar, mourning groups and relevant officials have the potential attractiveness for tourism. They also believed that holding such ceremonies in the traditional form and in certain large religious places and revival of Tazieh (Tasooa and Ashoora play) could be beneficial. About 3.5 percent of bazaar merchants are totally against holding Tasooa and Ashoora ceremonies inside bazaar.

A major part of Iran is mountanious and mass movements and landslides are one of the environmental hazards in mountains. Southern slopes of central Binaloud are more susceptible to landslides, and every year there are damages to farms and rural settelments due to landslides. These factors include: Geological formation, intensive landuse and humidity of area. This paper has paid attention to the effects of landslides using Anbalagan method and specified unit sub-basin element weights and ranks of landslide hazards. According to the maps and field study with GPS landslide hazard maps were drawn and results showed that about 64% of the area was located in intensive landslide hazard zone. A knowledge on the landslide hazard potentials might be of great importance for regional decision makers.

Social capital is one of the effective factors in different arena of human, life, scientific and executive aspects of development in city and rural areas. The circumstances on social capital in different parts have various characteristics. The objective of this study is the determination of amount of social capital in city point of view and nearby rural places in Khorramabad County in one hand, and investigation on the discrepancy of social capital between this city and nearby rural places on the other. The recognition of city and rural capital and understanding the causes of discrepancy between these two kinds of places will help management and urban planning. The estimation and data collection method in this study is library-based. Questionnaires were distributed among different parts of Khorramabad city and nine villages randomly. The distributed questionnaires were analyzed and interpreted by SPSS software and Geographical Information System (GIS). Results show that there are discrepancies between city and rural places:1: In common belief, there is a vast gap between city and nearby rural places in Khorramabad County, 28.4% of ordinary people had a deep trust in rural places, but this figure in the city was 14,25%.2: From official trust, there wasnt any discrepancy between city and nearby rural places. 4.7% of the respondents in Khorramabad had official trust, while this figure was 3.7% in rural places.4: From non-official cooperation, based on gained data, 33.75% of individuals in Khorramabad and 67.6% individuals in rural places had an active cooperation but the cooperation among rural people was much more than that of city.5: From official cooperation in Khorramabad, about 8.8% of people had drastically cooperated in official cooperation. This figure was more than 6 times the rural places, namely 53.3%.

Technological development in the 21st century causes humans to have more spare time than before and spend more time on her/his spare time. In fact this century should be called the tourism industry period. Due to technological, cultural, social, political and economic infrastructure established in the 21st century, the tourism is an unavoidable fact in the human behavior and action to satisfy his courage spirit. Traveling to other spots of the world whether in real and factual form or virtual form is among the living necessities of 21st century with various purposes and forms. A process which goes beyond all national and international boundaries and will have an approach beyond government and nation.As one of the sources of income and creating employment on local level, tourism can be a strategy for economic development. In particular, tourism is an appropriate alternative strategy for development when the profit of other economic activities is not sufficient. Today tourism industry is so important in the socio-economic development of the countries that economists have called it invisible export. Tourism industry is one of the industries called invisible and expanded rapidly in recent years which are among the greatest sources of income for the globe. It should be added that the giant financial cycles directly turn around the tourism industry and their effects on global economy are more efficient than direct incomes. This paper concentrates on development of sustainable tourism. In this viewpoint development of tourism based on using the existing resources is such that it answers to socio-economic and cultural needs and legal requirements of society as well as expectations of tourists so as to provide unity and coherence for cultural identity, environmental health, economic balance, and welfare of local people. This paper analyses the position of tourism industry in Iran and deals with the role, functions, obstacles and also solutions for creation of sustainable tourism industry in Iran.

In Iran some crops are often grown using irrigation to supplement the rainfall. Therefore, in order to achieve good cultivation we studied the water requirement of crops for a week. It is not known how much rain would fall during the week, or the beginning of each week. Therefore, precipitation records could be examined to estimate the amount of expected water. Some studies using a simple model suggest that the amount to allow for cultivation should be 30% of point distribution of total precipitation for that week. Hence, this study considered that there was 30% of total rainfall for each week. The data available were daily records for 45 years (1961-2005) in Hamedan meteorology station. Weekly total precipitation was calculated. Two different methods of estimating 30% of data through the year were considered. The first method merely involves calculating the observed 30% of data and then, 'smoothing' the original estimates and fitting gamma distributions. Results show that in this station there is two precipitation periods (in 1-21 weeks and 45-52 weeks) and have one dry period (22-44 week).