157

Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Precipitation over Iran Using
Gridded Precipitation Data of APHRODITE
Sohaila JAVANMARD1*, Javad JAMALI2, Akiyo YATAGAI3 and Elahe MAHDAVI4
1

Atmospheric Science and Meteorological Research Institute, 14965-114 Tehran, I. R. of Iran2
Environment University, Karaj, I.R. of Iran
3
Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
4
Azad University, Tehran, I. R. of Iran*e-mail: sjavanmard2004@yahoo.com

Abstract
In order to achieve risk management of water-related disasters such as droughts and floods in Iran, it isessential to obtain knowledge of the exact quantities of spatial and temporal precipitation over the long term.
In this regard, this paper presents the results of monitoring precipitation on monthly, seasonal and annual
timescales during the period of 1986-2006 (21 years) over Iran using a product of 0.5-degree-gridded data sets
provided by the Asian Precipitation-Highly-Resolved Observational Data Integration (APHRODITE)
Towards Evaluation of the Water Resources project, namely APHRO_ME_V003R1. Spatial distribution ofmean seasonal and annual precipitation shows two rainfall peaks that extend from the northwest to thesoutheast along the Zagros Mountains and along the Caspian Sea and Alborz Mountains in the northern part ofthe country.
With respect to a seasonal spatial analysis of rainfall over Iran, it is concluded that in winter, DJF(December- January- February), and spring, MAM (March-April-May), most precipitation occurs in the west,
northwest and southwest along the Zagros Mountains, but in summer. JJA (Jun-July-August), and autumn,
SON (September-October-November), most precipitation occurs along the southern Caspian Sea in the north.
Annual and seasonal drought condition using APHRODITE data have showed that mean annual
precipitation amount were low (drought condition) over Iran in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1998, 1999,
2000, 2001 and they are in accordance with Yazdani et al (2011)'s study about drought analysis over Iran.
Key words: APHRODITE, daily gridded precipitation data set, high resolution, Iran

1. Introduction
Precipitation is one of the most critical input variables
for water balance calculations because it is the immediate
source of water for the land surface hydrological budget(Fekete et al., 2004). Precipitation varies across a rangeof space–time scales. Larger space-scale variations
generally occur at longer time scales, and are associatedwith correspondingly larger scale phenomena in theatmosphere or ocean–atmosphere system. At all timeand space scales, precipitation is inherently morevariable than other commonly reported climate variables, such as temperature and pressure, with the resultthat precipitation measurement and analysis are moredemanding (New et al., 2001). At larger space scales(regional to global), precipitation data are needed forclimate model evaluation (Hulme et al., 1994a), for the
analysis of observed climate change against thebackground of natural variability (Hulme et al., 1999a),for biogeochemical modeling (Cramer & Fischer, 1996)
Global Environmental Research
15/2011: 157-164
printed in Japanand for the construction of climate scenarios for climatechange impact studies (Hulme et al., 1999b).
In the last two decades, various globally gridded
datasets of monthly terrestrial precipitation observations
have been developed, for example, the Climate Research
Unit of University (CRU) of East Anglia, Willmott–Matsuura (WM), Global Precipitation Climate Center(GPCC) (Fekete et al., 2004). A spatial–temporal highresolution gridded ground-based precipitation datasetbank using rain gauge data over Asia under a project
named APHRODITE has been developed by the
Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN) in
Kyoto in collaboration with Meteorological ResearchInstitute, Japan Meteorological Agency since 2006
<http://www.chikyu.ac.jp/precip/> (Yatagai et al., 2009).
CRU, WM and GPCC data sets are in high resolution
but monthly datasets. But the released APHRODITE data
are high temporal and spatial grid precipitation data for
longest period. They include daily precipitation on a
0.25/0.5-degree grid for Asia using many rain-gauge©2011 AIRIES

158

S. JAVANMARD et al.

stations for the period 1951-2007.
Since the country of Iran is located in an area at risk ofdrought and flood phenomena, evaluating the amount of
the precipitation is of significant importance. This paper
aims to study spatial and temporal variability of mean
monthly and seasonal rainfall over Iran, using 0.5 degree
precipitation data of APHRO_ME_V003R1 (released in2010 at http://www.chikyu.ac.jp/precip/) from 1986
through 2006. The results of this study could be applied
not only to the evaluation of droughts and floods in orderto achieve water related disaster risk management but
also to other necessary hydrological research.

2. Data and methodology
2.1 Study area
The Islamic Republic of Iran (Iran) is located between
25°N to 40°N and 45°E to 60°E in south-west Asia andcovers the area of 1,648,000 square kilometers. It is
located on the world dry belt. Iran is one of the world's
most mountainous countries bordering the Gulf of Oman,
the Persian Gulf, and the Caspian Sea. 60 percent of Iranis covered by mountains. The central parts of the country
are covered by two very dry deserts, the Dasht-e-Kavir
and the Dasht-e-Lut. The topography of the country isdominated by two mountain ranges. The Alborz range in
the northern part of Iran, close to the Caspian Sea extends
in east-west direction with a maximum altitude of about
5,000 meters. The Zagros Mountains cross the country
from northeast to southwest and reach a maximum altitude of about 3,500 meters as shown in Fig.1 (Javanmard,2006). These two ranges play an influential role indetermining the amount and distribution of rainfall overthe country. The dominant flow directions of air masses
are from the west and from the south. Several atmospheric and oceanic systems influence Iran throughout theyear. The major ones are the Mediterranean low pressure
system which enters from the west throughout the year,
Siberian high pressure system (Siberian High) which
penetrates into the country from the north mostly during
the winter, and Sudan tropical low pressure (Sudan Low)
which arrives from the southeast coner as shown Fig.1(Golestani, 2000).
Iran is generally classified as an arid or semi-arid
country. Mean annual rainfall is about 250 mm ranging
from 50 mm in the deserts to l,600 mm on the Caspian
plain (Fig. 2). The precipitation occurs mostly in winterand early spring and on the average, about 40% of theannual precipitation in Iran occurs in the winter(Ghasemi & Khalili, 2008).
2.2 APHRODITE’s water resources data
The APHRODITE project develops state-of-the-art
daily precipitation datasets with high-resolution grids
for Asia. The datasets are created primarily withobservations from a rain-gauge-observation network.
APHRODITE’s daily gridded precipitation is the only
long-term (1951 onward) continental-scale daily productthat contains a dense network of daily rain-gauge data for
Asia, including the Himalayas, South and Southeast Asiaand mountainous areas of the Middle East. The numberof valid stations has been between 5,000 and 12,000,
representing 2.3 to 4.5 times the data available throughthe Global Telecommunication System network, and theyFig. 1 Topographical map of Iran. (after Javanmard, 2006)

Precipitation Analysis over Iran Using APHRODITE Data

159

Fig. 2 Mean annual precipitation (mm) distribution over Iran
1961-1990.

Fig. 3 Ratio of 0.05-degree grids with station (%).

have been used for most daily grid precipitation products.
These products contribute to studies such as the diagnosisof climate changes, evaluation of Asian water resources,
statistical downscaling, forecast improvements, andverification of numerical model simulation and satellite
precipitation estimates (Yatagai et al., 2009). The advantages of the released APHRODITE data are hightemporal and spatial grid precipitation data for longest
period of time. They include daily precipitation on a
0.25/0.5-degree grid for Asia using many rain-gauge
stations for the period 1951-2007. Therefore more detailclimatological studies could be carried out about temporal and spatial distribution of extreme events such as
drough and flood over Iran. In this paper we have used
0.5 degree-gridded precipitation data of APHRO_ME_
V003R1 (which pertains to the Middle East region) over
Iran during 1986-2006 time periods (21 years). Figure 3
shows the spatial distribution of percentage ratios of the0.05 degree grid with station data over Iran.

autumn (SON) most precipitation occurs along thesouthern Caspian Sea in the north.
The rainfall maximum in winter is about 150 mm/
month in the northwest, west along the Zagros Mountains,
north along the Alborz Mountains, and south as shown in
Fig. 4a. It is about 25 mm/month in the center andsoutheast. There is no rainfall in the Lut Desert in thesoutheast. Figure 3b shows that the rainfall maximum inspring over the southern shore of the Caspian Sea is about
25-75 mm/month. The rainfall maximum is about
100 mm/month along the Zagros Mountains in the west
and southwest and about 25 mm/month in the east, center,and south.
The mean precipitation rainfall maximum in summer
appears in the north along the Alborz Mountains
and Caspian Sea about 150 mm/month. It is about
25-50 mm/month in the northwest toward the southwest
along the Zagros Mountains. Only in a small part of thesoutheast and the Lut desert is it about 10 mm/month, asshown in Figure 4c. As a result, there is low rainfall
during summer over different parts of Iran and therainfall maximum is over the north (southern Caspianseashore) and northeast. The lowest rainfall, about
1-25 mm/month, occurs in the center of Iran during all
four seasons, extending eastward in autumn too (Fig. 4d).
On the other hand, the highest rainfall occurs in the north,southwest and south, with about 200 mm/month inautumn and 150 mm/month in winter and spring (Figs. 4aand 4b).
Figure 4e shows the spatial distribution of mean annual precipitation over Iran from 1986 to 2006. It showsthat rainfall occurs less in the center (Lut and Kavir
deserts) and southeast of Iran, with about 1-10 mm/
month, and the east, with about 1-25 mm/month. The
concentration of rainfall is high along the southern
Caspian seashore, with 25 to 100 mm/month, and along
the Zagros Mountains in the west from northwest to
southwest, with about 25-75 mm/month.

3. Results
3.1 Spatial analysis of precipitation over IranThe spatial distributions of mean seasonal and annual
precipitation have been derived using APHRO_ME_
V003R1 precipitation data with 0.5 degree spatial
resolution and daily temporal resolution over the time
period 1986-2006 and are shown in Fig. 4 for the four
seasons, including winter (Fig. 4a), spring (Fig. 4b),summer (Fig. 4c) and autumn (Fig. 4d), as well as annual(Fig. 4e). The spatial analysis of monthly, seasonal andannual data have been summarized in Tables 1 and 2. In
most months, the first peak of precipitation mostly occurs
along the southern Caspian Sea in the north, with thesecond peak over the Zagros Mountains in the west,
which extend from the northwest through the southwest.
Precipitation minima mostly occur in the Lut and Kavir
deserts in the center, southeast and east of country. In
winter (DJF) and spring (MAM), most precipitation
occurs in the west, northwest and southwest along the
Zagros Mountains in most months. In summer (JJA) and160

S. JAVANMARD et al.

Fig. 4 Mean seasonal precipitation (mm/month) for winter (a), spring (b), summer (c), autumn (d), andannual (e) from 1986-2006.
Table 1 Mean monthly spatial distribution of precipitation over Iran.
Monthly Rainfall(mm/month)South(PersianSouthwest
Gulf and Seaof Oman)Maximum value Minimum value(mm/month)(mm/month)and region
and region

Northwest

West

North
(Caspian
Sea)

Northeast

East

CenterJan

10-50

25-20025-100

10-50

10-50

10-25

10-75

25-200

10-25

Feb

10-50

25-100

25-75

10-50

10-50

1-25

10-10025-100

1-10

Mar

25-50

50-15025-100

25-75

10-50

10-25

10-50

25-150

10-25

Apr

25-75

25-100

25-75

25-75

1-25

1-25

1-25

10-75

1-10

May

25-50

1-50

1-10

10-50

1-10

1-10

1-10

1-25

1-10

Jun

1-50

1-25

10-50

1-25

<1

<1

1-25

1-10

1-10

50 ( northwest)
50 (north)

July
Aug

1-25
1-10

1-25
<1

10-50
1-75

1-25
1-25

1-10
<1

1-10
<1

1-10
1-10

1-10
1-10

1-25
1-10

50 (north)
75 (north)

Sep

1-10

<1

25-200

10-25

<1

<1

1-10

<1

1-10

200 (north)

Oct
Nov
Dec

10-25
10-25
10-25

1-50
25-75
25-10025-20025-20025-100

10-25
10-50
10-50

1-10
1-10
1-25

1-10
1-10
10-25

1-10
1-10
10-100

1-10
10-75
25-150

1-10
1-10
1-25

200 (north)
200 (north)
100 (north&west& south)<1
East & center)1( most parts)<1 (northwest&east &center)
No / less rainmost parts
1 (most parts)
1 ( most parts)
1( southeast &east)

Maximum value(mm/month)and region

Minimum value(mm/month)and region

150 (Southwest
and South)
100( Southwest)

1-25 (Center)

MonthSoutheast

200 ( Zagros
mountains)
100 ( north andZagros)150 ( west &southwest)
100 ( west)

10 ( center)1( center &southeast)10( center)1( east &center & south)
1

Table 2 Seasonal and annual spatial distribution of precipitation over Iran.
Seasonal &Annual Rainfall(mm/month)South(Persian Gulf
Southwest Southeast
and Sea of
Oman)

Northwest

West

North
(Caspian
Sea)

Northeast

East

Center

Winter(DJF)

10-25

25-10025-100

10-50

10-50

1-25

10-15025-15010-25

Spring(MAM)

25-50

25-75

25-75

10-50

1-50

1-25

1-75

10-1001-10

Summer(JJA)
Autumn(SON)

1-10
10-25

1-10
10-50

1-50
10-200

10-25
1-25

1-10
1-10

<1
1-10

1-10
1-25

1-10
10-50

1-10
1-10

Annual (ANN)

10-50

25-75

25-100

10-50

1-25

1-10

1-50

10-75

1-10

Season25 (North)200(North)100 (North)

1-25(Center)<1 (Center)
1-10 (East &Center)
1-10(Southeast &center)Precipitation Analysis over Iran Using APHRODITE Data

3.2 Temporal analysis of precipitation over Iran
Figure 5 shows time series of monthly areal averages
of precipitation over Iran from 1986 through 2006
(21 years). The maxima of monthly areal averages ofprecipitation have been compared in each year from1986 through 2006. It has been concluded that the
maximum monthly areal average precipitation was about
48-60 mm/month from 1986 through 1998, except
December 1989, which had 40 mm/month; February
1990, which had 35 mm/month; and February, April and
December 1995, which had 35 mm/month. Moreover, it
decreased to 38-45 mm/month from 1999 through 2006,
except Jan. 2004, which had 55 mm/month. The results
are in accordance with the drought conditions which havedominated in Iran from 1999 through 2003. The annual
minimum monthly areal average precipitation has
occurred in JJA. The detail information has beenpresented in Table 3. Figure 6 shows a time series ofmonthly areal average precipitation over Iran from 1986
through 2006 for the four seasons, i.e., winter, spring,summer and autumn from top to bottom, respectively,from 1986 to 2006. It shows that the maximum areal
average precipitation occurs mostly in winter (DJF). The
areal average of rainfall in DJF is about 35 mm/month.
The minimum areal average precipitation occurred insummer (JJA), with less than 2 mm/month. The timeseries of areal averages of precipitation in spring (MAM)
shows that the rainfall of March is more than that of theother months of spring. Maxima of rainfall in Marchoccurred in 1987, 1991 and 1996 with 50, 50 and 60
mm/month, respectively, and minima occurred in 1990,
1995, 2000, 2004 and 2006, with about 20 mm/month.
Areal averages of rainfall in summer months show amaximum precipitation of about 10 mm/month, andrainfall is low in all of these months for the most part. A
time series of areal average rainfalls in autumn months
shows more rainfall in November compared with theother months of autumn. The first peak was 60
mm/month in 1994, the second was 45 mm/month in1986 and there were subsequent peaks of 30 mm/monthin 1997 and 2004.

161

Table 3 Monthly occurrence of maximum and minimum of areal
average of precipitation from 1986 through 2006.
Year

Month withmaximum
areal average
precipitation

Maximum
areal average
precipitation(mm/month)Month withminimum
areal average
precipitation

Minimum
areal average
precipitation(mm/month)

1986

Dec

48

Jul

2

1987

Mar

48

Jun

2

1988

Feb

45

Jun

5

1989

Dec

40

Jun, Jul

1

1990

Feb

35

Jun, Jul

2

1991

Mar

50

Jun, Jul

2

1992

Dec

50

Jul

3

1993

Feb

60

Jul, Aug

4

1994

Nov

58

Jul, Aug

2

1995

Feb, Apr, Dec

35

Jul, Aug

2

1996

Mar

60

Jul, Aug

2

1997

Mar

50

Aug

<1

1998

Jan

50

Jun

2

1999

Feb

40

Jun

<1

2000

Jan

42

Jul

<1

2001

Dec

45

Jun

2

2002

Apr

40

Jun, Jul

2

2003

Dec

38

Jul, Aug

2

2004

Jan

55

Aug

2

2005

Jan

38

Jul

2

2006

Jan, Dec

40

Jun, Aug<1

Fig. 6 Time series of monthly areal averages of precipitation over
Iran from 1986 through 2006 for the four seasons, i.e.,
winter, spring, summer and autumn, from top to bottom,
respectively.
Fig. 5 A time series of monthly areal averages of precipitation
over Iran from 1986 through 2006.

162

S. JAVANMARD et al.

4. Conclusion
The spatial distributions of mean seasonal and annual
precipitation have been derived using APHRO_ME_
V003R1 precipitation data with 0.5 degree spatial
resolution and daily temporal resolution over the time
period 1986-2006. Precipitation mostly occurs along thesouthern Caspian Sea in the north, with the second peakover the Zagros Mountains in the west, which extend
from the northwest through the southwest. Precipitation
minima mostly occur in the Lut and Kavir deserts in thecenter, southeast and east of country. In winter (DJF) andspring (MAM), most precipitation occurs in the west,
northwest and southwest along the Zagros Mountains inmost months. In summer (JJA) and autumn (SON) mostprecipitation occurs along the southern Caspian Sea in
the north.
Time series of monthly, seasonal, and annual areal
averages of precipitation over Iran from 1986 through2006 (21 years) have been derived. They showed that the

maximum areal average precipitation occurred mostly in
winter (DJF). The minimum areal average precipitation
occurred in summer (JJA). The time series of areal averages of precipitation in spring (MAM) shows that therainfall of March is more than that of the other months ofspring. A time series of areal average rainfalls in autumn
months, (SON) shows more rainfall in November compared with the other months of autumn.
A comparison has been carried out for annual andseasonal drought condition, i.e. lower rainfall amountfrom mean values. Figure 7 shows time series of mean
areal average annual and seasonal rainfall over Iran from1986 through 2006 using APHRODITE data. Yazdani
et al. (2011) have studied about drought and analyzed theannual and seasonal precipitation over Iran for 33 years(1974-2006) as shown in Fig. 8. Both Figs. 7 and 8 show
mean annual precipitation amount were lower thannormal values (drought condition) over Iran in 1989,
1990, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001.
APHRODITE data set is highly-resolved and daily

Fig. 7 Time series of mean areal average annual and seasonal (spring, summer,
autumn, and winter) rainfall over Iran from 1986 through 2006 using
APHRODITE data.

Fig. 8 Time series of mean annual and seasonal (spring, summer, autumn, and winter)rainfall over Iran from 1974 through 2006 (after Yazdani et al., 2011).

Precipitation Analysis over Iran Using APHRODITE Data

gridded product. For the purpose of water risk management, analyses of extreme rainfall events (flood anddrought) are important and APHRODITE data set is thevery applicable product to analyze those events.
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Javanmard, S. (2006) A Review Drought Early Warning Forecasting Systems in Iran (The Gap Between Current Status & What
Needs to be Done), FAO project report, Ministry of Jehad-e
Agriculture, I. R. of Iran.
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measurements and trends in the twentieth century. Journal of
Climatology, 21: 1899-1922, doi: 10.1002/joc.680.
Yatagai, A., O. Arakawa, K. Kamiguchi, H. Kawamoto, M. I.
Nodzu and A. Hamada (2009) A 44-year daily gridded precipitation dataset for Asia based on a dense network of rain gauges,
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163

Sohaila JAVANMARD
Dr. Sohaila JAVANMARD is an Assistant Professor
and faculty member of the Physical Meteorology
and Weather Modification Research Group,
Atmospheric Science and Meteorological Research Center (ASMERC), Tehran, Islamic
Republic of Iran. She received her Masters Degree
and Ph.D. in Atmospheric Physics from Kyushu University, Fukuoka,
Japan in 1999. She has been working as a visiting researcher at the
Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN), Kyoto, Japan, under
the Eco-Frontier Fellowship Award, from the Association of International
Research Initiatives for Environmental Studies (AIRIES), Ministry ofEnvironment, from July 2008 to March 2009. She has been cooperating in
the "Use of Daily Precipitation Gridded Data for an Early Warning Systemand for Mitigation of Global Warming Impact" project at RIHN. She hascollaborated in 15 national and international projects as a manager orcolleague and has published more than 18 scientific papers in national andinternational scientific journals. She has also performed as supervisor andadvisor for more than 15 Masters and Ph.D. theses of students at nationaland Azad Universities in Iran. She has also cooperated in publishing threescientific books in the Persian language in Iran. She is interested inprecipitation gridded data analysis using in-situ observations and satellites,
cloud physics parameterization, weather modification, and droughtmonitoring and early warning.

Javad Bodagh JAMALI
Dr. Javad Bodagh JAMALI was born in Maragheh,
Islamic Republic of Iran, in 1965. He is a faculty
member and Assistant Professor at the Universityof Environment, Karaj, Iran. He received his
Ph.D. in Physics from the Faculty of Science,
Kyushu University, Japan in 1998. He has also
completed post-doctoral work in the field of weather modification andcloud seeding at the Venture Business Laboratory, Fukuoka, Japan in 1999.
His professional fields are natural disaster risk management, droughtmonitoring and early warning, climate change and global warming, andexperimental study of magnetism of organic free radicals.
He has managed ten national and regional projects and has cooperated
in eight national projects. He has published thirteen scientific papers in ISI
journals and presented 60 papers at national and international scientificconferences. He has also undertaken international activities such asreporting on education in RA II, World Meteorological Organization(WMO), (2000-2004); representing the I. R. I. Meteorological Organization(IRIMO) at the world conference on disaster reduction, Japan, 2005; andrepresentative of IRIMO for the ECO Regional Center for Natural Disaster
Risk Management, ECO Secretariat, 2007.
He teaches undergraduate and graduate-level courses in Meteorology
and Environmental Studies at national universities. He is interested inscientific research and training activities and distribution of research group
culture at universities and research centers in Iran.

Akiyo YATAGAI
Dr. Akiyo YATAGAI is a climatologist and researcher at the Faculty of Life and Environmental
Sciences, University of Tsukuba. She received her
Doctor of Philosophy in 1996 from the Graduate
School of Geoscience, University of Tsukuba.
She was a Researcher at the Earth Observation
Research Center, National Space Development Agency from 1995 to 2001.
She was an Assistant Professor at the Research Institute for Humanity andNature (RIHN), Kyoto from 2002 to 2011. She was a Principal Investigatorof the Asian Precipitation – Highly Resolved Observational Data Integration Towards Evaluation of water resources (APHRODITE) project for2006 – 2011, funded by the Global Environment Research Fund, Ministryof the Environment, Japan.

164

S. JAVANMARD et al.
Elahe Mahdavi AMIRIElahe Mahdavi AMIRI was born in Babol,
Mazandaran Province, Iran on 25 June 1983. Her
religion is Islam and her nationality is Iranian. She
graduated in the field of physics from the Islamic
Azad University, Amol Branch in 2006 and thenstudied meteorology at the Azad University in
Tehran from 2007 to 2011. She has experience in teaching physics andmathematics to high school level students. Her hobby is reading. She has
technical skills in Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word,
Microsoft PowerPoint, Linux and Windows XP. Her current address is
Narmak, Samangan Street, 104 Street, Number 26, Tehran, IRAN.

(Received 27 August, Accepted 26 December 2011)