Spatiotemporal trends of aridity index in arid and semi-arid regions of Iran

The spatiotemporal trends of aridity index in the arid and semi-arid regions of Iran in 1966–2005 were investigated using the Mann–Kendall test and Theil–Sen’s slope estimator. The results of the analysis showed negative trends in annual aridity index at 55 % of the stations, while just one site had a statistically significant ( α = 0.1) negative trend. Furthermore, the positive trends in the annual aridity index series were significant at the 95 % confidence level at Bushehr and Isfahan stations. The significant negative trend in the annual aridity index was obtained over Mashhad at the rate of −0.004. In the seasonal series, the negative trends in the spring and winter aridity index were larger compared with those in the other seasonal series. A noticeable decrease in the winter aridity index series was observed mostly in the southeast of the study area. In the summer and autumn aridity index, two significant positive trends were found.