Hossein Mohammadi; Mohammad Hasan Mahoutchi; Mahdi Khazaei; Esmaeil Abbasi
Abstract
Probability analyses are useful methods for recognizing and predicting phenomena such as precipitation. One of these methods is the Markov chain. The Markov chain model is a special state of the models in which the current state of a system depends on its previous states. With this method, it is possible ...
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Probability analyses are useful methods for recognizing and predicting phenomena such as precipitation. One of these methods is the Markov chain. The Markov chain model is a special state of the models in which the current state of a system depends on its previous states. With this method, it is possible to calculate the probability of the occurrence andthe return period of climatic phenomena such as precipitation.Therefore, in the present research,using the 58 year daily precipitation data (1956 - 2013) ofShiraz synoptic station, the frequency and the continuity of rainy days in this city were studied by the use of the Markov chain model. The above statisticswere arranged based on the matrix of counting the changes of the occurrence states of the dry and wet days (days without precipitation and precipitation days), then, the situation change matrix was calculated based on the maximum likelihood estimation method. The matrix was evaluated and analyzed with repeated, constant power, and daily rainfall return period. Next, the return periods of 2 to 5 day rainfall days and the return period of1 day dry days, were also evaluated. Then,the return period of the continuation of 2 to 5 day precipitation days for twelve months of the year was calculated. The results showed that the probability of precipitation occurrence (wet days) per day was %0.1167 and the probability of no precipitation occurrence (drydays) was %0.8833. It was also determined that the most probable occurrence of rainy days was during the winter, especially in January and February. For example, the return period of 2 consecutive rainy days in January was estimated to be nearly 5 days. Therefore, it was observed that Shiraz precipitation has a heterogeneoustime distribution. In other words, precipitation is not uniform and concentrated in Shiraz.
