Abstract
Negative changes in the activity of climatic factors lead to vulnerabilities in natural systems and challenging environmental changes. Wind as a geological factor is considered a common phenomenon in arid desert regions. Persistent erosive winds lead to wind erosion and enhance the desertification process. The present study aimed to analyze the path of climate changes on the desertification progress of arid regions. The trend of climate changes was studied using the Mann–Kendall and Sen's Estimator non-parametric tests over a 20-year study period (2000–2019) in a part of central Iran and a significant trend was found in climate changes (ρ < 0.01 & 0.05). Vegetation changes were assessed using the Normalized Vegetation Difference Index (NDVI). The relationship between climatic factors and vegetation changes based on the Spearman test was significant (ρ < 0.01 & 0.05). The effect of climatic factors such as precipitation, temperature, and relative humidity on the maximum wind speed in the region was studied through the path analysis method. The results indicated that the latent variables of temperature and relative humidity significantly affected the maximum wind speed (ρ < 0.01). Overall, our findings provide insights for using the path analysis model as a useful mechanism to determine the contribution of factors affecting wind erosion and desertification spread.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
Not applicable.
Notes
https://app.climateengine.org/climateEngine (Access date to the data: 09 Jul 2021)
References
Abraham EM, Guevara JC, Candia RJ, Soria ND (2016) Dust storms, drought and desertification in the Southwest of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Rev Fac Cienc Agrar 48:221–241
Ahmadi B, Ghorbani A, Safarrad T, Sobhani B (2015) Evaluation of surface temperature in relation to land use/cover using remote sensing data. J GIS RS for Natur Res 6:61–77
Cannarozzo M, Noto LV, Viola F (2006) Spatial distribution of rainfall trends in Sicily (1921–2000). Phys Chem Earth, Parts a/b/c 31:1201–1211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2006.03.022
Ebrahimi Khusfi Z, Khosroshahi M, Roustaei F, Mirakbari M (2020a) Spatial and seasonal variations of sand-dust events and their relation to atmospheric conditions and vegetation cover in semi-arid regions of central Iran. Geoderma 365:114225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2020.114225
Ebrahimi Khusfi Z, Roustaei F, Ebrahimi Khusfi M, Naghavi S (2020b) Investigation of the relationship between dust storm index, climatic parameters, and normalized difference vegetation index using the ridge regression method in arid regions of Central Iran. Arid Land Res Manag 34:239–263. https://doi.org/10.1080/15324982.2019.1694087
Ekhtesasi M. 2004. 'Investigating morphometric and morphodynamic characteristics of wind erosion in Yazd plain and determining their indices for desertification models', Dissertation thesis, University of Tehran
Evans S, Ginoux P, Malyshev S, Shevliakova E (2016) Climate-vegetation interaction and amplification of Australian dust variability. Geophys Res Lett 43:11,823-11,830. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL071016
Feng L, Jia Z, Li Q (2016) The dynamic monitoring of aeolian desertification land distribution and its response to climate change in northern China. Sci Rep 6:39563. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep39563
Feng K, Wang T, Liu S, Yan C, Kang W, Chen X, Guo Z (2021) Path analysis model to identify and analyse the causes of aeolian desertification in Mu Us Sandy Land, China. Ecol Indic 124:107386. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107386
Harati H, Kiadaliri M, Tavana A, Rahnavard A, Amirnezhad R (2021) Urmia Lake dust storms occurrences: investigating the relationships with changes in water zone and land cover in the eastern part using remote sensing and GIS. Environ Monit Assess 193:70. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-08851-3
Hirsch RM, Slack JR, Smith RA (1982) Techniques of trend analysis for monthly water quality data. Water Resour Res 18:107–121. https://doi.org/10.1029/WR018i001p00107
Kaskaoutis DG, Francis D, Rashki A, Chaboureau J-P, Dumka UC (2019) Atmospheric Dynamics from Synoptic to Local Scale During an Intense Frontal Dust Storm over the Sistan Basin in Winter 2019. Geosciences 9:453
Masatoshi Y (2002) Climatology of yellow sand (Asian sand, Asian dust or Kosa) in East Asia. Sci China, Ser D Earth Sci 45:59–70. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02878390
Middleton NJ (2017) Desert dust hazards: A global review. Aeol Res 24:53–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeolia.2016.12.001
Middleton N, Kang U (2017) Sand and Dust Storms: Impact Mitigation. Sustainability 9:1053
Miri A, Dragovich D, Dong Z (2021a) Wind flow and sediment flux profiles for vegetated surfaces in a wind tunnel and field-scale windbreak. Catena 196:104836. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2020.104836
Miri A, Maleki S, Middleton N (2021b) An investigation into climatic and terrestrial drivers of dust storms in the Sistan region of Iran in the early twenty-first century. Sci Total Environ 757:143952. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv2020.143952
Pandzic K, Kobold M, Oskorus D, Biondic B, Biondic R, Bonacci O, Likso T, Curic O (2020) Standard normal homogeneity test as a tool to detect change points in climate-related river discharge variation: case study of the Kupa River Basin. Hydrol Sci J 65(2):227–241. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2019.1686507
Rao Y, Liang S, Wang D, Yu Y, Song Z, Zhou Y, Shen M, Xu B (2019) Estimating daily average surface air temperature using satellite land surface temperature and top-of-atmosphere radiation products over the Tibetan Plateau. Remote Sens Environ 234:111462. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2019.111462
Rashki A, Kaskaoutis DG, Goudie AS, Kahn RA (2013a) Dryness of ephemeral lakes and consequences for dust activity: The case of the Hamoun drainage basin, southeastern Iran. Sci Total Environ 463–464:552–564. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.06.045
Rashki A, Rautenbach CJd, Eriksson PG, Kaskaoutis DG, Gupta P (2013b) Temporal changes of particulate concentration in the ambient air over the city of Zahedan, Iran. Air Qual Atmos Health 6:123–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-011-0152-5
Sen PK (1968) Estimates of the Regression Coefficient Based on Kendall’s Tau. J Am Stat Assoc 63:1379–1389. https://doi.org/10.1080/01621459.1968.10480934
Shao Y, Wyrwoll K-H, Chappell A, Huang J, Lin Z, McTainsh GH, Mikami M, Tanaka TY, Wang X, Yoon S (2011) Dust cycle: an emerging core theme in Earth system science. Aeol Res 2:181–204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeolia.2011.02.001
Shi Z, Shan N, Xu L, Yang X, Gao J, Guo H, Zhang X, Song A, Dong L (2016) Spatiotemporal variation of temperature, precipitation and wind trends in a desertification prone region of China from 1960 to 2013. Int J Climatol 36:4327–4337. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4635
Silleos NG, Alexandridis TK, Gitas IZ, Perakis K (2006) Vegetation indices: advances made in biomass estimation and vegetation monitoring in the last 30 Years. Geocarto Int 21(21):28. https://doi.org/10.1080/10106040608542399
Speer MS (2013) Dust storm frequency and impact over Eastern Australia determined by state of Pacific climate system. Weather and Climate Extremes 2:16–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2013.10.004
Torshizi MR, Miri A, Shahriari A, Dong Z, Davidson-Arnott R (2020) The effectiveness of a multi-row Tamarix windbreak in reducing aeolian erosion and sediment flux, Niatak area, Iran. Aust J Environ Manag 265:110486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110486
Vivekanandan N (2007) Analysis of trend in rainfall using non parametric statistical methods. In, 101. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2767019
Wang R, Liu B, Li H, Zou X, Wang J, Liu W, Cheng H, Kang L, Zhang C (2017) Variation of strong dust storm events in Northern China during 1978–2007. Atmos Res 183:166–172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2016.09.002
Wright S (1918) On the Nature of Size Factors. Genetics 3:367–374
Wright S (1934) The method of path coefficients. Ann Math Stat 5:161–215
Zhang Y, Cabilio P, Nadeem K (2016) Improved seasonal mann-kendall tests for trend analysis in water resources time series. In: Li WK, Stanford DA, Yu H (eds) Advances in time series methods and applications: the A. Ian McLeod Festschrift. Springer New York, New York, pp 215–229. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6568-7_10
Zheng Y, Pancost RD, Naafs BDA, Li Q, Liu Z, Yang H (2018) Transition from a warm and dry to a cold and wet climate in NE China across the Holocene. Earth Planet Sci Lett 493:36–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.04.019
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors whose names appear on the submission made substantial contributions to the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval
Since this study did not involve human subjects, it did not require ethical approval statement.
Consent to participate
This study did not involve human participants.
Conflicts of interest/competing interests
No conflict of interest.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Zhihua Zhang
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fatemi, M., Jebali, A. Path analysis of the effect of climatic elements on wind speed and desertification progress in Central Iran. Arab J Geosci 15, 930 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-022-10064-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-022-10064-y