Geographical Research

This study is an attempt to investigate functions of Abhar city as a medium sized city in Zanjan province spatial development structure. The method of this study is descriptive-analytical. Some quantity models and methods are used in study of the role of this city and its hinterland. The economical models represent that، this city has basic conditions in the second and third economical activities. Not only it has a proper growth in industry، but also it has an important service role. The study of hinterland shows that vast parts of services are allocated in its hinterland. It can be inferred from this study that without Abhar there would be a non equilibrium of spatial in network of province cities. The population models show this city has high elasticity index in province. Because of these advantages، Abhar has a basic role as the industrial and service center of settlements of the Eastern and South Eastern of Zanjan province based on the regional classification

Generally the level of development in different economic sections of a country is not the same as is in its regions، but heterogeneity and incongruity are seen in educational، health services، social services and welfare، agriculture and industry sections of a country. One of the issues and problems which regional planners are facing is the unequal growth and development of the areas، in a way that by taking a look at the spatial distribution of services in areas it is specified that، these services are not provided in a balance manner. Therefore among the general criteria for regional planning program is classifying the regions based on enjoying different development indices. Health services is deemed one of the main bases of development and providing health services in different areas reduces poverty، therefore develop the required conditions for the upbringing and growth of human capital and social and economic development in different regions of the country. The current study analyzes and classifies the health indicators of East Azerbaijan Province Townships by using factor analysis and cluster analysis as well as using 22 health indicators. The dominant approach of this project is of descriptive and analytic as well as applied sort and Arc / GIS software has been used to provide the maps. The research findings show that the health care indicators in East Azerbaijan province have not been distributed in a balance manner and a dramatic difference is seen among the cities of the province with regard to the development of health services. Tabriz and Jolfa are ranked at the highest and the lowest level respectively. The result of using factor analysis technique put the Townships in 4 levels of over-developed، ultra-developed، mid-developed and infra-developed and Tabriz is in over-developed and cities of Azarshahr، Bonab، Jolfa، Charavimaq، Varzqan، Haris، and Hashtrood are in infra-developed level. Using cluster analysis technique and drawing dendrogram graphs the Townships of the province were classified in four homogeneous groups. Finally، some suggestions are presented for improving deprived areas.

During past sixty years، the world has seen significant changes in the ways of travel from one place to another. In this time period، not only travel mode، but also tourism destinations، motivation and the number of these travels have been changed. One of those changes is the specific kind of tourism called ecotourism which has had so rapid growth in the recent years and has become one of the important phenomena in the tourism industry. This kind of tourism respects deeply to people، tourism places and things to be visited and it emphasizes specially on the protection of natural and cultural resources، the involvement of local people in planning processes and the creation of welfare for those people. With the diversity of ecological and cultural resources، located in the North West of Iran، Urmia Township has many opportunities and strengths for investing in the field of ecotourism development. Investigating these strengths and opportunities and determining weaknesses and threats، the present study presents appropriate strategies for ecotourism development in this region. According to its aim، the current study is applied and in terms of research method is descriptive analytical، and survey. After bringing about general points and research framework، field study was done in order to gather information on the studied region and investigate the position and the way of tourism in the region. Generally، three questionnaires (tourist، native people، and specialists) were prepared for this study. To analyze data، Spss and SWOT model were employed. Findings show that Urmia Township، with the sum of 40 strengths and opportunities as advantages and with weight points of 3.13 and 2.82 for strengths and opportunities، respectively، has many potentials and capabilities for ecotourism development. However، the Township، with the sum of 19 weaknesses and threats as disadvantages and with weight points of 3.22 and 3.78 for weaknesses and threats، respectively، has serious challenges and problems in the face of its ecotourism. Furthermore، findings show that ecotourism development has great effects on the region’s economical development، and by planning correctly، using ecotourism attractions optimally and rationally، solving problems and weaknesses and using available opportunities، one can see economical development in the grounds of income، employment، diversity of economic activities and generally، the increase in the welfare of people residing in this township.

In this study، for spatial-temporal analyzing of cyclones in 1376، the spatial range of 30 to 80 degrees of east longitude and 0 to 80 degrees of north latitude and geo potential data with 2/ 5* 2 / 5 degrees of networking in arc levels of 1000، 925،850, 700, 600 and 500 Hpa have been used. These data are extracted for six hours (00،06, 12, 18 Zulu) database (NCEP / NCAR). So that، the first geo potential databases were created in MATLAB software، then GRADS changed the data to maps and، SURFER combined maps and the final analysis has been done. Temporal analysis in Iran indicated that the most of cyclones frequency is related to the level of 500 Hpa with 27 / 2 percent and the lowest frequency with 11 percent is for the level of 850 Hpa. Winter with 31/5 percent has the most cyclone and، summer with 18/8percent has the lowest cyclones. Studies of spatial cyclones in Pakistan indicate the existence of low pressure in all seasons، which is developed at lower levels. In Iran strong spin cannot be found and cyclonic centers which affect Iran are mainly derived from different geographical areas and are not active inside the country. 

Reduced inequality in utilization of community resources and facilities is one of the essential standards of sustainable development. In this regard، regional and local inequalities are of special importance. This paper emphasizes district differences in Meybod city level in addition to specifying the position of Meybod city among our country. It was done using a descriptive-analytic method. Statistical models such as Wilkaksun test were also applied to compare sustainability between Meybod city indices with our country and in the second stage، it was analyzed and evaluated by functional analysis technique، HDI، standardized score technique and dispersion coefficient (C.V) using 23 economical-social indices. Studies carried out show that the position of Meybod city is desirable among other cities. However، results from functional analysis show that only on sixth of localities have desirable situation and the gap between the most sustainable and the least stable district is 1.4 in HDI index. Even in analyzing a series of sustainability factors، the sustainable difference is 0.87%، representing dispersal and high gap within regions in having sustainability indices. In total، spatial dispersion of localities in sustainability is such that، districts with strong and ideal sustainability are located in the south and western south and the unsustainable districts are in central and eastern parts. Sustainable districts in accessibility to services and facilities are in better condition and the unsustainable districts in center due to compact texture and the difficulty of surface expansion and some parts in the edge became unstable because of adjoining to the city and horizontal expansion. Therefore، accessibility to sustainable development in the localities is possible with applying strategies consistent with strengths and enhancement of weak index. 

Precipitation could be regarded as a complex and a very vital element in the earth atmosphere and its spatial-temporal changes can control Iran''s climate. In the current research، in order to model the spatial-temporal changes of annual precipitation، the data taking from 50 synoptic stations، have been analyzed during the years 1966-2005، with a suitable distribution. The most data sequences are observed as climatic series having non-linear behavior which do not follow a normal distribution. Consequently، some non-parametric statistical methods were first applied to analyze of all data layers at hand. Then، for performance of the significance levels in annual precipitation trends، a non-parametric Mann-Kendal method was introduced. Subsequently، the area distribution of trend، moving mean average، humidity areas، and spatial precipitation changes of the lowest and highest areas mapped in an Arc GIS setting. Initial results show that the most synoptic stations trends are negatively increasing and some less reducing over Iran meaningfully. It was found that the maximum rate of reduction in trend values can be seen in the northern parts of the country، and inversely the maximum increasing trend rates are going to be established in the southern parts of the study area، during the last 40 years. Meanwhile، final findings well illustrate that the spatial changes in precipitation values، particularly in the arid and semi-arid areas، are significantly increasing. Regularly، since the year 1980، such changes have been accordingly intensified in the climatic sub-humid and very dry areas.

Solar radiation (Rs) has many applications in most sciences such as agriculture and irrigation; however، its measurement has been done in few weather stations of Iran. Therefore، estimation methods were used. In this study، weather data of Rasht station، from 2004 to 2006 were employed for calibration of some equations، and weather data of years 2007 and 2008 were used for evaluating the obtained equations for estimating Rs. For this purpose the cloudy and clear- sky days were separated. The results for non-cloudy days showed that the Angstrom equation was more appropriate than the other equations. Also، the results for cloudy days demonstrated that none of the equations were appropriate; however، the equation proposed by Allen et al.، (1998) can be used with low accuracy. 

One of the most variability of atmospheric parameter is precipitation، which changes seasonally. It is important to understand exact characteristic of rainfall seasonal variable. Therefore، it is unavoidable to study rainfall season in Hamedan province، because Hameden is one of the important centers of agriculture in Iran. In this research، the seasonal variability of rainfall is considered in Hamedan province. For this object، precipitation، onset and cessation data were extracted and the trend and seasonal variability of rainfall were analyzed during 30 years (1979-2009)، so observations were divided to three separated decades. The result of this study show the duration of rainfall is from early falls until end of spring in the first decade. This result indicated that the duration of rainfall is long. In the second decade، there is no significant change in rainfall season، but only in some part of the province، the rainfall duration is shorter and in the other part it is longer. Nevertheless، in the third decade there is considerable movement. The onset of rainfall duration has been in winter and cessation of rainfall duration has been in summer. It means that rainfall season has moved to summer slowly in recent years. The trend of rainfall duration has increasing trend. On the other hand، the duration length of rainfall is longer than before. In order to classify، rainfall seasonal variability is interpolated and the cluster analysis is done base on the “Oghlidos distance” and “Ward” integrated method. According to this method، Hamedan province is classified to 3 groups. The first group indicates the shortfall in the most parts، the second group indicates rainfall season onset is moved to winter، and in the third part the rainfall season has not had any changes.

Tehran، the largest metropolis of Iran، due to specific physical، demographical، social، economical and cultural situations generates larger crime rate than other cities of Iran. In central business district of Tehran، which sits in the area No.12، and No.11 of Tehran municipality، crime occurs more than other part of the city. This paper aimed at identifying the spatial distribution of drug related crimes in the central business district of Tehran city and investigating of spatial and physical crime facilitators in this part of the city. This article based on descriptive and analytic methods and the spatial patterns of crime in this part of the city have been identified through some statistical methods including: Mean Center، Standard Deviation Ellipse، Test for Clustering، Interpolation method and Quartic Kernel Density Estimation using geographical Information systems. The study population as all the numbers (without the use of sampling techniques) from the police and criminal cases related to administrative units of the Greater Tehran police commander on 1/1/87 till 30/11/87 has been extracted. Thus the present study collection of crime statistics community committed drug trafficking and abuse that in studied period (April to March 87) within the central business district of Tehran have occurred. The results of this study show that spatial distributions of drug-related crimes in CBD of Tehran city are significantly clustered which indicate the relationships between drug dealing and abusing places and the structural and physical characters of this part of the city. Moreover، the spatial pattern of crime in CBD of Tehran affected by the location of subway and rail stations in this part of the city. In addition، different social and economical characters of the residents of the CBD of Tehran city have influenced the patterns of drug abuse in this part of the city. So organizing and physical enabling along with taking preventive approaches through social and cultural programming is essential to reduce crime in this part of the city. 

Iran passed wide range of events over her controversies history. It has great special geopolitics position، natural resources and cultural values. Iran is in Asia and connects Asia to Europe. Iran as relational bridge has an important role so that it could be an important center during first and Second World War for enemies'' forces in spite of explicit neuter declaration from Iran. Pass way position of Iran and the significant role which it is playing on regional trade and also deep effectiveness and out put on eco-politic in central Asia and Caucasia and Indian Ocean، Persian Gulf، and Anatoly turn it in to sensitive geo politic position. Iran has geographical and economical aptitude with trade economical tendency for government income and it would be out look for removing or absorbing of economical resources where devastating economy activity may be happened. These are important economy issues. Iran has mountainous west border and also desert east boundary that may cause goods contraband and because of long border with neighbors، Iran face to many problems in control of goods contraband imported or exported. Goods smuggling، influences individuals'' economic and social position in general and vulnerable people in particular. It also، hurt their health، employment، and living. If Goods and foreign exchange smuggling are not one of the most important problem in our country، but it is the most important sign of illness which our economy is afflicted to it. In this article، the importance of Iran''s geopolitics in every aspect، and how this position has influenced goods smuggling and its continuity is analyzed. Moreover، how neighbors and their position have influenced this smuggling is analyzed in this study. 

One of the most important and complicated social transitions has been growth of worldwide urbanization. The rapid growth of urbanization and cities has had different consequences which is associated with much urban vulnerability. Physical، installation، environmental، economical and social inequalities have been the results of such urban growth. This paper aims to study and identify the quality of land use distribution and urban services in the twenty six neighborhoods of Maragheh to determine the Urban Quality of Life (UQL). The methodology of the research is based on the descriptive and analytical methods. At first discovering studies have been done in libraries and by simple survey and a field work has been done. To determine the sample bulk questionnaires are distributed equally and finally، Entropy and TOPSIS techniques are applied for analyzing and ranking the level of UQL in the neighborhoods of city. The results form land use distribution per capita revealed that the neighborhoods of 7-3، 7-4، 7-2 and 1-1 showed a better UQL compared to the standard level provided by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning. The rest of 22 neighborhoods had a lower level of UQL which indicated the social inequality among the different areas of the city. The study showed that accessibility to green space has been the most important concerns of the city''s residents. Also ranking of neighborhoods on the base of urban per capita and the indexes quality of life revealed that there has been a weak relation between urban per capita and the indexes of quality of life، as only one neighborhood from 22 had an equal level of both. In general، the results indicated that there are considerable gap among the neighborhoods with respect to per capita distribution and the quality of urban infrastructures. It could be concluded that the future planning policies should concentrate on the reduction of neighborhood inequality in both qualitative and quantitative aspects to distribute urban facilities on the base of resident needs. 

The global warming process during last century has not only affected on meteorological elements but also affected on onset and end of each meteorological elements. For studying probability changes in time series of onset and end date of temperature thresholds 0 and 5 centigrade in country level and deciding the kind and its direction، daily temperature data during the past 45 years (1962-2006) for 29 synoptic meteorology stations have been used. For doing this research، first، extract onset and end date of temperature in Gliosis code has been implied. The homogeny of time series was tested by run-test and construct missing value by auto-correlation. For distinguishing random data and trends which had in 95% of trusty level some changes، Mann Kendal method was used. The type and onset time trend was calculated and the changes were also calculated in terms of days with graphic of Mann Kendal and moving average 5 year. The findings of this research shows that there are positive trend at Alpha level 0/05 for onset date of 5 centigrade temperature at 11 stations، negative trend for end date of 5 centigrade temperature at 10 stations . There are also positive trend at Alpha level 0/05 for onset date of 0 centigrade temperature at 10 stations، negative trend for end date of 0 centigrade temperatures at 6 stations. The graphical Mann Kendal test also showed that trends could be as calm; jumping that each of them could be as descending and ascending.

Green spaces، especially urban gardens have been a subject of study in many countries for a long time، but the subject has been mostly overlooked in Iran. Therefore، this study tries to analyze the changes in land use and how we can protect green spaces (gardens) in Jahrom in line with sustainable development in 1996-2006. The data in this study were collected through local investigations and field studies in Jahrom County، questionnaires، collecting data and statistics، and we have also used Arc GIS software for data analysis. The study results show that in 1996-2006، due to extension in the urban area،  580.36 hectares were added to total green spaces and 190.8 hectares of garden lands have suffered changes in land use. Changing to barren land (46.2%) and housing land (35.44%) were the main changes in land use. Furthermore،  70.6 percent of garden owners consider economic motivations (value added of housing and housing land) as the main reason of change in land use. Lack of irrigation water and entering the urban area were also among the reasons of changing land use. To test the differences between price of garden land before and after change in land use، we carried out a T-test by SPSS، which revealed that the price of garden lands has increased 2.1 times after change in land use. The original price of garden land was 47% of land price after change in land use. Therefore، we propose supplying irrigation water needed for gardens، and making use of barren lands within the urban area for housing and other related needs so that we can protect and maintain urban gardens in line with sustainable development.

The gap between supplied services and people’s expectations is a fundamental problem upon the connection between municipality and citizens. The main objective of this research is to survey the synchronization measure of supplied services by Mashhad’s municipality toward Mashhad citizens’ expectations. Descriptive and Analytical Methods are implemented in this research. Chosen Sample contains 724 of Mashhad citizens; their views are asked in five levels: Tangibles، Assurances، Reliability، Responsibility، and empathy. Collected data were analyzed using the SPSS software. The results show that there is a gap between supplied services and people’s expectations. The most gap refers to empathy (-1.65) and the least gap refers to physical (-1.44). Really، in all aspects a meaningful difference can be seen between facts and expectations (P-0.000). Whereas the citizens who enjoy a higher literacy and income، they have evaluated the services gap more That the others (P<0.01). For this reason، it is suggested moreover to regard major and long-termed policies، improve in staff’s training and skills، services supplier factors، and devote more credit to prioritized services in order to improve services quality

The aim of this study is analysis of drainage basins neotectonic in the north slope of Bozqoosh Mountains by geomorphological methods. To attain this aim، It used of field observation، areal photographs and five geomorphic indexes in 20 basins of the north slope of Bozqoosh Mountains. Indexes were calculated by topography maps (1: 50000)، geological maps (1: 100000) and areal photographs (1: 20000). All of maps drew by Arc/GIS. The results show that 40 % of drainage basins in study region have high activity tectonic. This basins located in middle portion of Bozqoosh Mountains. 35% of basins have moderate values of tectonic activity. They located in eastern portion of study region. 25% of basins of Bozqoosh have shown the lowest values of tectonic activity. There are numerous of morphotectonic evidences such as fault scarps، alluvial fans، fault valley، water fall and etc. which are in the north slope of Bozgoosh Mountains with high activity tectonic

The Dust is one of the weather phenomena that have negative environmental effects and consequences. The central city of Ahvaz in Khuzestan province is one of cities that in every year witnessed the dust in its environment. In this study، after determining that the dust phenomena data are abnormal، using the SEN''S nonparametric model been proceed to modeling of changes and survey the time series of dust phenomena in Ahvaz during the statistical period (1951-2005).In this study، using three method of two half average، Mann-Kendall and SEN''S the analysis of dust phenomena in Ahvaz has been performed. After determining the trend monthly، seasonal and annual scales proceed to determine the slop equation for dust phenomena that by using it you can predict occurrence of them in 2015. The results of this study first showed that most of dust phenomena occur in the warm period of year in Ahvaz. The frequency of phenomena in the second half of statistical period has had salient increase (double)، than the first period. Totally، increasing trend of dust phenomena، except in January، has been 95 and 99 percent significant in annual months and seasonal scale level. 

In this research، the relationship between geomorphologic factors with underground water resources in Zahab plain (in west of Kermanshah) has been analyzed using by analyzing-deducing and weighting methods. First، by using of pizometeric and exploratory well data، variation of water table in Zahab plain has been comparative analysis with geomorphic unites and then، the Zahab watershed was zoned in hydro-geomorphic units by overlapping of seven environmental variables such as: slope، geology، geomorphology، land use، hypsometry، rain fall and drainage density in GIS environment. Results of both of methods have shown significantly relation between geomorphic features and underground water resources in Zahab plain. In fact this study showed that although the syncline plain with young sediments prepared a suitable bed to form aquifer in Zahab plain، but alluvial fans in easterner part of Zahab plain and floodplain of Jegiran River have the main role to feed it. These features not only penetrate 5/112 m-m³ agriculture return water and 4/147 m-m³ water from rain (of course together with plain sediments)، also cause penetrate 7/570 m-m³ water from run off was penetrated in to the Zahab plain aquifer. Dividing of Zahab watershed in to hydro-geomorphologic units indicates that deposited plain with alluvial sediments and alluvial fan has the most important role to penetrate the water in to the underground. Erosive plains covered with slope material، are second importance in this regard. Irregular and uneven slopes also have influence on water penetration when they are covered with scree and badlands have indirect role in water penetration. The runoff of these areas penetrates in to the Zahab aquifer through alluvial fans when they are drained in to the eastern part of Zahab plain through Jegiran River. 

In this study، it has been tried to test the accuracy of output and hence the model efficiency in the predictions of 24 and 48 hour precipitation forecasting by choosing different schemes be assessed. Therefore، in order to test the accuracy of model product، two conditions of rainfall precipitation and lack of rainfall precipitation were considered. Four thresholds were taken. Adaptive table and threat scores were calculated. The final results of the analysis are summarized. The results indicate that among different configurations، the model output for the two configurations of GDMYJ and KFMYJ which in both of them boundary layer scheme Mellor-Yamada-Janjic were used، are closer to the truth and their accuracy are more acceptable. Then proportion correct (PC) for the four thresholds، without precipitation (≤ 1.0)، less than or equal to 1 mm (1 ≥ and> 1 .0)، less than or equal to 10 mm (10 ≥ and> 1) and more than one، and more than 10 mm (<10) for 48 hours predictions have acceptable values such that totally about 80 percent، predicting the occurrence or non-occurrence of precipitation is done properly. Amount of H represents for two thresholds means less than 1. 0 and more than 10 mm is close to one، it means that the model for the two mentioned thresholds has higher accuracy. This quantity for the range of one tenth to a millimeter is 0.3 which indicates the relative weakness of model in this range

Numerical weather forecasting models are used for forecasting and dynamic conditions analysis of atmosphere phenomena in recent years. This research investigates dynamic and thermodynamic conditions in heavier precipitation events in different synoptic patterns in the southern coasts of Caspian Sea using WRF model. Database precipitation events were formed. Super heavy and heavy precipitation groups were classified with regards of 25% and 50% probability. Sea surface pressures patterns were drawn for each super heavy and heavy precipitation group using cluster analysis and ward linkage. Total data for WRF model (pgb.f00 and grb2d) were derived from www.dss.ucar.edu. WRF model were run for 16 synoptic patterns in three processes ) WPS، WRFV3 and ARWpost). Atmospheric variables maps were drawn and compared and analyzed when the WRF model were forecasted precipitation amounts and precipitation patterns precisely. The results show that the wind velocity mean are less than 12 m/s and more than 15 m/s in synoptic patterns for high pressure systems and low pressure systems respectively over the Caspian Sea in super heavy precipitation group. The wind velocity mean are less than 10 m/s and more than 10 m/s in synoptic patterns for high pressure systems and low pressure systems respectively over the Caspian Sea in heavy precipitation group. When difference of 2m air temperature and SST is less than zero especially if the high pressures are located over the Sea، sensible heat is increased as its mean may be 200 w/m² and 350 to 400 w/m² in heavy and super heavy precipitation events respectively. It reaches 950 w/m² in extreme values of precipitation. The WRF model acted less precisely in forecast of amounts and precipitation synoptic patterns that have been generated by high pressure systems than low pressure system.