Evaluation of thermal comfort conditions in Ourmieh Lake, Iran

Research in developing countries concerning the relationship of weather and climate conditions with tourism shows a high importance not only because of financial aspects but also an important part of the region’s tourism resource base. Monthly mean air temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, vapor pressure, wind velocity, and cloud cover for the period 1985–2005 data collected from four meteorological stations Tabriz, Maragheh, Orumieh, and Khoy were selected. The purpose of this study is to determine the most suitable months for human thermal comfort in Ourmieh Lake, a salt sea in the northwest of Iran. To achieve this, the cooling power and physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) calculated by the RayMan model and the Climate Tourism/Transfer Information Scheme (CTIS) were used. The results based on cooling power indicate that the most favorable period for tourism, sporting, and recreational activities in Ourmieh Lake is between June and October and based on PET between June to September. In addition, the CTIS shows a detailed quantification of the relevant climate–tourism factors.     

西北干旱区极端高温时空变化特征分析

利用1961—2010年西北干旱区83个气象观测站的日气温资料,通过线性倾向率、百分位法及Mann-Kendall法得出西北干旱区极端高温的具体变化特征。用百分位法对西北干旱区日气温数据进行处理,确定极端高温指标的阈值,得出极端高温强度和极端高温事件的频率。结论如下:自1989年开始,西北干旱区年极端高温呈显著上升趋势,空间上西部大于东部,局部地区盆地南缘大于北缘;极端高温日数呈明显的上升趋势;四季极端高温均有上升趋势,秋季增长率最高、冬季最低,秋季极端高温日数增长速率最大;季极端高温及高温日数高值区分布在西北干旱区西北和东南部的盆地边缘,干旱区沙漠边缘及戈壁区;西北干旱区年、季极端高温日数均与年平均气温相关性突出。     

Thermal comfort and tourism climate changes in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau in the last 50 years

In this paper, the thermal comfort and its changes in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau over the last 50 years have been evaluated by using the physiological equivalent temperature (PET), and a more complete tourism climate picture is presented by the Climate–Tourism–Information Scheme (CTIS). The results show that PET classes in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau cover six out of the nine-point thermal sensation scale — very cold, cold, cool, slightly cool, neutral and slightly warm — and cold stress is prevailing throughout the year. A small number of slightly cool/warm and neutral days occur in summer months. There occur no warm, hot and very hot days. The frequency of PET classes varies among regions, depending on their altitude/latitude conditions. Xining, Lhasa and Yushu are the top three cities in terms of thermal favorability. With global warming, annual cumulative number of thermally favorable days has been increasing, and that of cold stress has been reducing. The change is more obvious in lower elevation than that in higher elevation regions. The improving thermal comfort in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau might be a glad tiding for local communities and tourists. Besides PET, CTIS can provide a number of additional bioclimatic information related to tourism and recreational activities. CTIS for Lhasa and Xining shows that sunshine is plentiful all the year round, and windy days occur frequently from late January to early May. This is a useful bioclimatic information for tourism authorities, travel agencies, resorts and tourists.     

Rainfall and rainy days trend in Iran

In this study, long-term annual and monthly trends in rainfall amount, number of rainy days and maximum precipitation in 24?h are investigated based on the data collected at 33 synoptic stations in Iran. The statistical significance of trend and climate variability is assessed by the Mann-Kendall test. The Linear trend analysis and the Mann-Kendall test indicate that there are no significant linear trends in monthly rainfall at most of the synoptic stations in Iran. However, the maximum number of stations with negative trends have been observed in April (29 station), and then in May (21 stations) and February (21 stations) and with positive trends in December (26 stations) and July (24 stations). The significant linear trends, with a significant level of 0.05, in annual rainfall have been noticed only at five stations. The monthly number of rainy days does not show any significant linear trend for most areas in Iran. The maximum number of stations with monthly negative trends in rainy days has also been observed in April with the minimum in December. In April, out of 24 stations with negative trends, 12 stations have a significant negative trend. Contrary to that, in October there is no significant linear trend. Most stations have positive trends in annual number of rainy days. Also, the monthly maximum precipitation in 24?h does not show any significant linear trend for most areas in Iran. The maximum number of stations with monthly negative trends in maximum precipitation has also been observed in February with the minimum in December. In spite of that, there are almost no significant precipitation variations in Iran during the last 50-odd years, the tendency of decreasing rainfall amount in April and increasing rainfall amount in December and July could indicate an eventual climate change in this area in the future.     

Effect of asymmetrical street canyons on pedestrian thermal comfort in warm-humid climate of Cuba

Walkability and livability in cities can be enhanced by creating comfortable environments in the streets. The profile of an urban street canyon has a substantial impact on outdoor thermal conditions at pedestrian level. This paper deals with the effect of asymmetrical street canyon profiles, common in the historical centre of Camagüey, Cuba, on outdoor thermal comfort. Temporal-spatial analyses are conducted using the Heliodon2 and the RayMan model, which enable the generation of accurate predictions about solar radiation and thermal conditions of urban spaces, respectively. On these models, urban settings are represented by asymmetrical street canyons with five different height-to-width ratios and four street axis orientations (N-S, NE-SW, E-W, SE-NW). Results are evaluated for daytime hours across the street canyon, by means of the physiologically equivalent temperature (PET index) which allows the evaluation of the bioclimatic conditions of outdoor environments. Our findings revealed that high profiles (façades) located on the east-facing side of N-S streets, on the southeast-facing side of NE-SW streets, on the south-facing side of E-W street, and on the southwest-facing side of SE-NW streets, are recommended to reduce the total number of hours under thermal stress. E-W street canyons are the most thermally stressed ones, with extreme PET values around 36 °C. Deviating from this orientation ameliorates the heat stress with reductions of up to 4 h in summer. For all analysed E-W orientations, only about one fifth of the street can be comfortable, especially for high aspect ratios (H/W > 3). Optimal subzones in the street are next to the north side of the E-W street, northwest side of the NE-SW street, and southwest side of the SE-NW street. Besides, when the highest profile is located on the east side of N-S streets, then the subzone next to the east-facing façade is recommendable for pedestrians. The proposed urban guidelines enable urban planners to create and renovate urban spaces which are more efficient in diminishing pedestrian thermal stress.     

Seasonal and annual segregation of liquid water and ice clouds in Iran and their relation to geographic components and precipitation

Efficient and proper understanding of the state of the clouds regarding different seasons of the year will have profound effects on different economic and environmental sectors. The purpose of this study is to determine the hourly dissociation of ice and liquid clouds in Iran. To this end, cloud optical thickness (COT) data, as well as optical depth of clouds in two phases of liquid and ice were obtained and processed from 31 synoptic meteorological stations (1960–2015), MODIS data from Terra satellite during the years 2001 to 2011, and they were processed then. Next, using the RegCM4 model, the cloud fraction (clt) was simulated to accurately identify the cloud cover situation in Iran. The results showed that the maximum annual mean abundance of liquid and ice clouds was 18.95 days for the time 15:00 and 3.99 days for the time 06:00, respectively. Climatic zones of the Caspian and Persian Gulf coasts at 15 o’clock had the highest decreasing trend of liquid clouds. Ice clouds in all parts of Iran’s climate, with the exception of the eastern plateau, also declined. From south to north and east to west of Iran, the occurrence of ice and liquid clouds is increasing. Therefore, the spatio-temporal distribution of liquid and ice clouds in the country was also dependent on spatial components and latitude had the greatest impact. From the satellite and modeled data, the RegCM4 model has been able to detect the Monsoon phenomenon in southeastern Iran during the summer. CLT simulation in Iran has also shown that cloud cover in Iran fluctuates between 28 and 65% on average, with 81.5% of Iranian stations having a significant change in the amount of annual cloud cover. Correlation of liquid and ice clouds with precipitation showed that liquid clouds in summer and ice clouds in spring had higher correlation with precipitation in Iran. Northern coasts of Iran due to greater ascent mechanisms such as coastal compressors, north latitude atmospheric circulation systems, and maximum winds in the north and west of Iran due to the location of western systems entry and sufficient thermal gradient, had maximum ice clouds in the last half century. Also, south of Iran, despite having extended and great water-bodies, is less cloudy due to descending air in Hadley’s circulation (Hadley cell) of air.     

1961-2017年京津冀地区寒潮活动特征

基于1961—2017年京津冀地区126个气象观测站逐日最低气温和降水资料,分析该区域寒潮发生频次时空变化特征,在此基础上通过定义的干湿判别指标分析区域性寒潮的干湿特征。结果表明：(1)京津冀地区单站寒潮年平均发生频次空间分布呈西北多东南少,86%的站点寒潮年发生频次呈减少趋势。(2)1961—2017年寒潮累计发生站次呈显著减少趋势(P<0.001),气候倾向率为-5.7站次·a^-1,且在1983年发生突变。1961—1971年寒潮累计发生站次出现峰值,从1972年开始锐减,2007—2017年寒潮平均发生站次为历史最少。(3)1961—2017年区域性寒潮发生频次年际变化总体呈递减趋势,气候倾向率为-0.282次·(10 a)^-1, 1960年代冬季区域性寒潮发生频次最多,1970年代秋季和春季最多,2000年代冬季和春季为次高峰期,2011—2017年3个季节最少。区域性寒潮发生频次季节分布中以秋季出现最多、其次是冬季、春季最少;10月、11月寒潮最为活跃。(4)京津冀地区区域性寒潮过程干过程发生频次最多,2011—2017年区域...     

Spatiotemporal patterns of drought at various time scales in Shandong Province of Eastern China

The temporal variations and spatial patterns of drought in Shandong Province of Eastern China were investigated by calculating the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) at 1-, 3-, 6-, 12-, and 24-month time scales. Monthly precipitation and air temperature time series during the period 1960–2012 were collected at 23 meteorological stations uniformly distributed over the region. The non-parametric Mann-Kendall test was used to explore the temporal trends of precipitation, air temperature, and the SPEI drought index. S-mode principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to identify the spatial patterns of drought. The results showed that an insignificant decreasing trend in annual total precipitation was detected at most stations, a significant increase of annual average air temperature occurred at all the 23 stations, and a significant decreasing trend in the SPEI was mainly detected at the coastal stations for all the time scales. The frequency of occurrence of extreme and severe drought at different time scales generally increased with decades; higher frequency and larger affected area of extreme and severe droughts occurred as the time scale increased, especially for the northwest of Shandong Province and Jiaodong peninsular. The spatial pattern of drought for SPEI-1 contains three regions: eastern Jiaodong Peninsular and northwestern and southern Shandong. As the time scale increased to 3, 6, and 12 months, the order of the three regions was transformed into another as northwestern Shandong, eastern Jiaodong Peninsular, and southern Shandong. For SPEI-24, the location identified by REOF1 was slightly shifted from northwestern Shandong to western Shandong, and REOF2 and REOF3 identified another two weak patterns in the south edge and north edge of Jiaodong Peninsular, respectively. The potential causes of drought and the impact of drought on agriculture in the study area have also been discussed. The temporal variations and spatial patterns of drought obtained in this study provide valuable information for water resources planning and drought disaster prevention and mitigation in Eastern China.     

中国大陆1960～2012年持续干旱日数的时空变化特征

采用1960~2012年508个地面观测站逐日降水量资料,分析了中国大陆近53 a四季持续干旱日数变化趋势。结果表明：近53 a来我国大陆春季和冬季持续干旱日数呈明显下降趋势,其中冬季气候倾向率为-0.7 d/10 a,夏季变化趋势比较平稳,秋季呈明显上升趋势。空间变化上持续干旱日数气候倾向率春季在-0.41~0.41 d/10 a之间,大部分地区呈减少趋势;夏季持续干旱日数气候倾向率508个测站中有59%的测站为减少趋势,41%为增加趋势;秋季大部分地区气候倾向率呈增加趋势,统计有302个测站呈上升趋势,占中国大陆总测站数的69%;冬季持续干旱日数气候倾向率在-0.62~0.44 d/10 a之间,统计508个测站中有66%的测站为减少趋势,34%为增加趋势。     

Thermal sensation of people performing recreational activities in shadowy environment: a case study from Turkey

The objective of this study is to determine human thermal comfort conditions in the recreational areas of the city of Erzurum using an 18-year data set of the five warmest months of the year obtained from the meteorological station established in the rural area of the city at 1400 local time and discussing the applicability of a new approach that climatic or bioclimatic comfort conditions under some tree species may be comparable to those under some cloudiness categories. It was found by concluding that the effects of cloudiness and shadows of selected tree species may not be the same on thermal comfort conditions that people can experience cold stress under dense shadows especially in spring and autumn months and heat stress under weak shadows in summer months in recreational areas. It was suggested that, in order to prevent people in recreational areas from heat and cold stress, great care must be taken in the plantation of recreational areas and deciduous tree species, rather than coniferous, which can foliate late, should be used.     

SPATIO-TEMPORAL VARIATION CHARACTERISTICS OF EXTREMELY HEAVY PRECIPITATION FREQUENCY OVER SOUTH CHINA IN THE LAST 50 YEARS

This paper comprehensively studies the spatio-temporal characteristics of the frequency of extremely heavy precipitation events over South China by using the daily precipitation data of 110 stations during 1961 to 2008 and the extremely heavy precipitation thresholds determined for different stations by REOF, trend coefficients, linear trend, Mann-Kendall test and variance analysis. The results are shown as follows. The frequency distribution of extremely heavy precipitation is high in the middle of South China and low in the Guangdong coast and western Guangxi. There are three spatial distribution types of extremely heavy precipitation in South China. The consistent anomaly distribution is the main type. Distribution reversed between the east and the west and between the south and the north is also an important type. Extremely heavy precipitation events in South China mainly occurred in the summer-half of the year. Their frequency during this time accounts for 83.7% of the total frequency. In the 1960s and 1980s, extremely heavy precipitation events were less frequent while having an increasing trend from the late 1980s. Their climatological tendency rates decrease in the central and rise in the other areas of South China, and on average the mean series also shows an upward but insignificant trend at all of the stations. South China＇s frequency of extremely heavy precipitation events can be divided into six major areas and each of them shows a different inter-annual trend and three of the representative stations experience abrupt changes by showing remarkable increases in terms of Mann-Kendall tests.     

Recent Climate Change at the Upper Danube—A temporal and spatial analysis of temperature and precipitation time series

The following study investigates temperature and precipitation trends in instrumental time series between 1960 and 2006 at 88 meteorological stations located in the Upper Danube Basin. Time series were tested for inhomogeneities with several common homogeneity tests, trend magnitudes of annual and seasonal time series were calculated by least square fitting and the significance of trend values was checked and quantified by the Mann-Kendall test. The results confirm a particularly strong recent Climate Change in the investigation area. Increasing temperature trends show remarkably high trend values up to 0.8°C/decade in the summer season. The trends are highly significant for all investigated summer, spring and annual time series. Winter and spring temperature trends show consistently positive trend values as well even though some time series show no significance at all and the calculated trend values are smaller. Autumn temperature trends are mostly non-significant with low values (up to 0.3°C/decade) and several negative trends. Most of the highest trend values can be found in lower altitudes whereas stations situated in alpine regions tend to show low trend magnitudes and often exhibit non-significant results. Precipitation time series show positive as well as negative trends in the annual and seasonal analysis. At most stations a precipitation decrease in summer and autumn and an increase in winter was observed during the last 47?years whereas the spring and mean annual precipitation exhibits no change at all. But most time series are not conclusive since they show predominantly no significance and they often exhibit only low trend values.     

Urban heat island and differences in outdoor comfort levels in Glasgow, UK

From extensive outdoor comfort campaigns, preliminary outdoor comfort ranges have been defined for the local population of Glasgow, UK, in terms of two thermal indices: ‘Temperature Humidity Sun Wind’ (THSW) and ‘Physiological Equivalent Temperature’ (PET). A series of measurements and surveys was carried out from winter through summer 2011 during 19 monitoring campaigns. For data collection, a Davis Vantage Pro2 weather station was used, which was equipped with temperature and humidity sensors, cup anemometer with wind vane, silicon pyranometer and globe thermometer. From concurrent measurements using two weather stations, one located close to the city core and another located at a rural setting, approximately at a 15-km distance from the urban area of Glasgow, comparisons were made with regard to thermal comfort levels and to urban–rural temperature differences for different periods of the year. It was found that the two selected thermal indices (THSW and PET) closely correlate to the actual thermal sensation of respondents. Moreover, results show that the urban site will have fewer days of cold discomfort, more days of ‘neutral’ thermal sensation and slightly higher warm discomfort. The most frequent urban heat island intensity was found to be around 3° C, whereas the fraction of cooling to heating degree-hours for a T _base of 65 °F was approximately 1/12th.     

黔东南大雾气候特征

利用1961~2007年黔东南州16个地面气象观测站逐日大雾日数资料,对黔东南州大雾日数的日、年、季分布特点、长期变化趋势、年代际的变化特征等进行分析。结果表明:20世纪60年代平均雾日最多,80年代最少,进入21世纪后具有逐渐增多的趋势;以秋季雾日最多,冬季次之,春季最少;以11月为最多,2月为最少。并且大雾日数有准40年的周期,在大雾多发期存在着准5年的周期性。大雾主要分布在黔东南州的中部,东南部和西北部相对较少。     

泾河流域温度与器皿蒸发量时空特征及变化趋势

利用泾河流域周边14个气象站点1957～2002年逐日温度、器皿蒸发数据,分析了近45 a来气温、器皿蒸发量的时空变化特征。Mann-Kendall统计检验结果表明：泾河流域气温变化趋势与同期我国气温变化趋势基本一致,年均温存在显著变暖的总趋势,增温率为0.29℃/10 a。流域北部气候变暖趋势高于流域南部,变暖的季节主要是秋冬季节。年器皿蒸发量呈逐渐减少的趋势,倾向率为-39.3 mm/10 a,在空间上变率表现为流域南部、北部减少趋势明显,中部变化趋势不明显。     

湖南省近54年冬季降水分区及趋势分析

基于湖南省89个气象站点1960—2013年的冬季降水观测数据,应用旋转经验正交函数（REOF）和层次聚类法（HCA）对湖南省冬季降水进行分区,并在分区的基础上,运用离散小波变换结合Mann-Kendall（MK）和Sequential MK（SQMK）的方法,讨论湖南省各分区冬季降水的变化趋势,并识别影响各自变化趋势的主周期分量。结果表明:（1）REOF的前3个旋转空间模态揭示湖南省冬季降水存在3个主要的异常敏感区:湘南、湘西北及湘中;（2）湖南省冬季降水在空间上可划分为5个一致性子区域:湘西北区（DJF1）、湘西-湘北区（DJF2）、湘西南-湘中区（DJF3）、湘南丘陵区（DJF4）和湘南山地区（DJF5）,且每一子区域从西南向东北呈带状展布;（3）近54年来,5个子区的冬季降水均表现出增加趋势但各区存在差异,其中,湘西南-湘中区、湘南丘陵区和湘南山地区均呈显著的上升趋势;（4）D₁分量是影响湖南省不同区域冬季降水变化趋势的最占优的周期分量,揭示湖南省的冬季降水变化趋势存在准2年的主周期。      

中国西北地区秋季降水异常的特征分析

利用陕、甘、宁、青四省（区）分布均匀的63个测站近40a的秋季降水资料，通过EOF、REOF、周期分析、小波分析等方法对中国西北东部地区秋季降水异常的空间分布、时间演变及周期变化等特征进行了比较详细的诊断研究，并就其与赤道中东太平洋海温异常之间的相关关系作了统计分析，得到一些有意义的结论。     

Calibration of weather radar using region probability matching method (RPMM)

In this paper, spatiotemporal variability of drought in Xilingol grassland during pasture growing season (from April to September) was investigated, using 52 years (1961–2012) of precipitation data recorded at 14 rain gauge stations in the study area. The Standardized Precipitation Index was used to compute the severity of drought. The Mann-Kendall test, the linear trend, and the sequential Mann-Kendall test were applied to standardized precipitation index (SPI) time series. The results indicate that drought has become increasingly serious on the region scale during pasture growing season, and the rate of SPI decreases ranged from ?0.112 to ?0.013 per decade. As for the MK test, most of the stations, the Z value range is from ?1.081 to ?0.005 and Kendall’s τ varies from ?0.104 to ?0.024. Meanwhile, drought is increased obviously from the northwest to the southeast region. Meanwhile, the occurrence probability of each severity class, times for reaching different drought class from any drought severity state, and residence times in each drought class have been obtained with Markov chain. Furthermore, the drought severities during pasture growing season in 2013–2016 are predicted depending on the weighted Markov chain. The results may provide a scientific basis for preventing and mitigating drought disaster.     

Non-parametric trend analysis of the aridity index for three large arid and semi-arid basins in Iran

Currently, an important scientific challenge that researchers are facing is to gain a better understanding of climate change at the regional scale, which can be especially challenging in an area with low and highly variable precipitation amounts such as Iran. Trend analysis of the medium-term change using ground station observations of meteorological variables can enhance our knowledge of the dominant processes in an area and contribute to the analysis of future climate projections. Generally, studies focus on the long-term variability of temperature and precipitation and to a lesser extent on other important parameters such as moisture indices. In this study the recent 50-year trends (1955–2005) of precipitation (P), potential evapotranspiration (PET), and aridity index (AI) in monthly time scale were studied over 14 synoptic stations in three large Iran basins using the Mann–Kendall non-parametric test. Additionally, an analysis of the monthly, seasonal and annual trend of each parameter was performed. Results showed no significant trends in the monthly time series. However, PET showed significant, mostly decreasing trends, for the seasonal values, which resulted in a significant negative trend in annual PET at five stations. Significant negative trends in seasonal P values were only found at a number of stations in spring and summer and no station showed significant negative trends in annual P. Due to the varied positive and negative trends in annual P and to a lesser extent PET, almost as many stations with negative as positive trends in annual AI were found, indicating that both drying and wetting trends occurred in Iran. Overall, the northern part of the study area showed an increasing trend in annual AI which meant that the region became wetter, while the south showed decreasing trends in AI.     

丽水市四季起始日期的气候演变特征

根据丽水市国家气象观测站1953-2010年逐日气温资料,运用趋势分析、Morlet小波变化和Mann-Kendall检验对四季起始日期的气候变化特征、趋势演变规律和突变转折情况进行了研究。结果表明：四季起始日期,春季约在3月中旬,夏季在5月底,秋季在9月下旬,冬季在11月下旬,且春、秋季的长度较短,只有2个月左右,夏、冬季的长度较长,长达4个月。Morlet小波分析四季起始日期的周期变化特征,主要体现在年代际时间尺度上,且各周期强度有所差异,预测春、夏季起始日将按照提前趋势发展,秋、冬季起始日继续延后状态。Mann-Kendall检验得出,春、夏两季起始日期在21世纪初发生由推后转向提前的突变,而秋、冬两季起始日突变点都体现在20世纪60年代。