Journal of Spatial Analysis

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Occurrence conditions for severe snow blizzard in the west-north of Iran
 
Abstract
The blizzard incident is one of the climatic hazards that occurs due to the combination of other climatic factors such as temperature (below zero), snow and wind (at 15 m/s). In this research, the conditions of blizzard in Northwest of Iran are carried out using statistical methods. By analyzing all the meteorological codes of the blizzard (36, 37, 38 and 39) during the statistical period from 1987 to 2016 for 11 synoptic stations of the study area, codes with severe blizzard (37, 39) were selected. Then, using the geopotential height, wind and Leveling temperature of 500 and 850 hpa, obtained from the NCEP/NCAR open source database, the synoptic patterns of blizzard incident analyzed. Statistical analysis of the relationship between the effects of geographic factors on severe blizzard has shown that the factor of height has the greatest effect on intensity, increase and incident spatial differences of this phenomenon. The study of the synoptic patterns of the incident of the blizzard phenomenon showed that five main patterns play a role in creating it in the region. The synoptic patterns of development include the formation of a low cut-off center, a long landing passage from Iran, the formation of a relatively deep and drawn Mediterranean East, The rectangular system is a rex-shaped system and is an umbilical bundle system. Among the patterns obtained, the patterns that were bundled were, the most important role in the survival and transfer of flows associated with cold, and other patterns, despite the frequency they had, were periodically of severity and weakness.
Keywords: Blizzard; North West; Wind speed; Temperatures below zero; Synoptic patterns
Human life is always affected by climatic phenomena, especially the hazards of the two variables of temperature and wind. One of the most important simultaneous phenomena of these two variables is the blizzard, which is caused by heavy snow, stormy winds, and very low temperatures. This climate risk can cause damage to various areas of horticulture, agriculture, urbanization, transportation, and so on. This phenomenon is present in regions such as Canada and North America with a cold weather wave that results from turbulence in the winters and damages the lawns in these areas. There are plenty of local storm in the polar regions and it lasts for a few days. For example, the wind in the Adelie land in the Antarctic is so severe that the area is known as the storm Land. In Iran, the most significant blizzard occurred in mid-February 1350, resulting in the deaths of more than 4,000 people across the country. In this research, considering the characteristics of the blizzard phenomenon at the time of occurrence (severity, continuity, expansion, and time of occurrence), the study has been conducted to determine the statistical synoptic patterns in the northwest region.
In this research, the studied area is northwest of Iran, which includes 6 provinces (Ardebil, West Azarbaijan, East Azarbaijan, Zanjan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Hamedan). In order to study, the days with the blizzard phenomenon in the form of 3 hours and in codes of this phenomenon (36, 37, 38 and 39), were obtained from the establishment of the stations studied by 2016. In the following, for precise examination, stations with 30 years of statistic from 1987 to 2016 were identified and the statistical (frequency, daily, monthly and annual frequency) codes 39 and 37 were studied. Finally, the relationship between blizzard with the latitude and elevation in the studied stations was determined. To assess the statistical results, the correlation coefficients (R) and coefficient of determination (R²) were used.
In the second part, the identification of synoptic patterns was done by Principal Component Analysis in MATLAB software and ocular method. The criterion for identifying synoptic patterns, the days where codes 37 and 39 are more than 1 time (3 hours) within 24 hours or two days behind each other at the stations studied. In order to determine the patterns, at first, the average geopotential data of the 500-hpa level from 1987 to 2016 were obtained from a range of 10-70 degrees north latitude and 0-80 degrees east longitude with a spatial resolution of 2.5 * 2.5 from the NCEP / NCAR data.
Statistical analyzes on the relationship between the effect of geographic factors on severe blizzard showed that the factor of height had the greatest effect on the intensity, magnitude and spatial differences of this phenomenon. In sum, the most important factor in the occurrence of this phenomenon is due to atmospheric conditions and synoptic patterns of the region. In this study, the most frequent occurrence of codes 37 and 39 in all stations studied was at Sardasht station and Khalkhal station, respectively. Also, the statistical study of the frequency of the annual and monthly occurrence of each code showed that code 39 in 1990 and code 37 in the years 1989 and 1990, as well as in January, had the highest frequency of each of the two codes.
Investigating the patterns of the occurrence of the blizzard phenomenon showed that five main patterns have contributed to its creation in the region, the first pattern due to the formation of a low cut-off center, which, with the cold weather in Central and Eastern Europe, has reduced the temperature in the northwest. The second pattern is due to the high landing passage from Iran, which has crossed the descent from a cold and cold weather zone from Europe to Iran. The third pattern is the location of the studied area in the relatively moderate, dragged, eastern Mediterranean wavelength, causing cold weather to fall to the northwest. The fourth pattern, with the formation of a Rex-type blockade on the Mediterranean, has led to the transfer of cold air from Eastern Europe, Kazakhstan, and high latitudes to Iran. The fifth pattern, with the formation of a blockade, has caused cold weather in northern Europe and Central Asia to enter the country from the north, causing a drop in temperature in the region.
Among the known patterns, the patterns that were blocked (pattern 4 and 5) played the most important role in the survival and transfer of cold fluxes and even drawn to lower latitudes. Other patterns, despite frequent periods, provide conditions for the occurrence of this phenomenon and, unlike the blocking patterns, have had severity and weakness.
 
Keywords: Blizzard; North West; Wind speed; Temperatures below zero; Synoptic patterns