Analysis of Erosive Winds and Sand Drift Potential in Central Iran

Abstract

In desert biome, the wind has an important role in erosion. The rate of wind energy and its direction variability have a significant control over the morphology and maintenance of aeolian landforms. The objective of this research is to investigate erosive winds and sandy sediments drift in Central Iran. For this purpose, the anemometric data from 1996 to 2015 of 11 stations were analyzed by WRPLOT software. To determine the wind direction, the annual wind rose and sand rose were drawn. The results obtained from the analysis of wind rose data revealed that the maximum frequency percentage was for the class 4-7 knot. The results showed that the dominant drift directions are NW, W, and SW toward N, NE, and E. The maximum and minimum total sand drift potential were 1245.2 and 57.9 vector units that are related to Abarkouh and Behabad stations, respectively.