masoumeh moghbel

Ecosystem services (ES) refer to the benefits derived from the structure and function of ecosystems and play an important role in human well-being and welfare (Adelisardou et al., 2021). The two interconnected approaches of carbon sequestration and habitat provisioning are ecosystem services that have the potential to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss caused by the built environment (Varshney et al., 2022). The rapid urbanization of Tehran in recent decades has led to significant disruptions to both the natural and urban landscape. Sustainable population growth, industrialization, and urbanization processes have led to the reduction or destruction of natural vegetation, the development of urban constructions, various human activities (such as transportation and production centres), and drastic changes in land cover/land use (LULC). These factors have also contributed to an increase in energy consumption, which has resulted in elevated surface temperatures in urban environments. Under these conditions, the current research aims to examine two ecosystem services - regulatory services (carbon storage) and support services (habitat quality) - provided by the InVEST model. The research will focus on the role and impact of these two crucial services in enhancing the quality of the environment and analyzing the climate of the Tehran metropolis.

The current research aims to investigate the effect of land use/land cover on changes in carbon storage (regulating service) and habitat quality (supporting service) at spatial and regional scales using the InVEST software. The carbon storage model integrates land use and land cover (LULC) data with information on carbon storage inventories in four main carbon storage pools: aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, deadwood, and soil organic carbon. This integration enables calculations and spatial distribution of inventories and carbon storage in the area. To conduct habitat quality modelling, several components are necessary, including the (LULC) map, threat sources, impact weight tables, impact distance for each threat, and the sensitivity of each habitat to the threat source. One of the important inputs of the InVEST model is the land use/land cover map. In the present study, the classification of local climate zones (LCZ) was utilized to calculate and generate a land use and land cover (LULC) map for the city and suburbs of Tehran.

The results showed that the highest amount of carbon storage on an annual scale is associated with aboveground biomass and soil organic carbon, while the lowest amounts are found in deadwood and belowground biomass. The aboveground biomass in region 22, specifically the Chitgar Forest Park area and the northeastern areas of the region where trees are densely and sparsely distributed, has the highest carbon storage capacity. It is estimated to be between 218 and 335 tons per hectare per year. After that, the southern and southeastern parts of region 15, as well as the northern and eastern parts of regions 8 and 14, which are characterized by open mid-rise land cover, are ranked next in terms of carbon storage. The results of the Habitat Quality Index also showed that the highest amount of habitat quality, indicated by a 16% coverage (values between 0.7 and 1), was concentrated in the northern parts of the study area. The habitat quality gradually decreased towards the southern and, in particular, the southwestern areas. In 65% of the study area, the habitat quality is extremely low, primarily due to urban development and settlements in the southwest of the city. The central (10, 11, and 12) and western (21 and 22) areas of the municipality have the lowest habitat quality due to the lack of urban green spaces, the destruction of existing ones, and the expansion of settlements and industrial complexes. Finally, to measure the sensitivity of ecosystem services to climate, we analyzed the effect of two primary climate components: temperature and precipitation, on ecosystem services. The results showed that although the correlation coefficients between the studied series were relatively low (temperature and ES=0.221, precipitation and ES=0.234), the regression analysis indicates that both ecosystem services will decrease under conditions of increasing temperature and decreasing precipitation.

In this study, we evaluated the spatial changes of two carbon storage services and habitat quality concerning land use/land cover change in the Tehran metropolis and its surrounding suburbs. The results showed that the land is covered with dense and scattered trees, as well as open mid-rise, sparsely built, open low-rise, and low plants. These areas had the highest absorption values in all four carbon pools. In this sense, Region 22 and the eastern part of the Northern Region had the best conditions for carbon absorption. The output of InVEST habitat quality also indicated that the highest amount of habitat quality, with a coverage of 16% (values between 0.7 and 1), is found in the northern parts of the basin. Gradually, the quality of the habitat decreases towards the southern areas, especially in the southwest. Although the obtained results indicate the favourable ecological potential of some areas in the metropolis of Tehran, climate change and human activities have severely affected this potential. Based on the linear relationship between the normalized series of climatic components (temperature and precipitation) and ES, there was an inverse relationship between temperature and ES and a direct relationship between precipitation and ES. As a result, both regulatory services and ecosystem support will decrease under conditions of increasing temperature and decreasing precipitation.

To evaluate the effect of planting date on the morphological traits, growth indices and seed corn yield of three varieties, an experiment was carried out in the research farm of University of Tehran in Karaj city in 2019.

The experiment was conducted as a split-plot design based on randomized complete blocks with four replications. In this experiment, planting date in 3 levels (May 24, June 21, and July 18) was considered as main plots and variety (early KSC400, medium-early KSC647, and late KSC704) as sub plots.

The results showed the highest yield is related to the second planting date (11.98 ton/Kg-1), and the longest period until the appearance of the the tassel was belonged to the first planting date (63.7 days).
The third (129/7 days), the second (122/3 days) and first planting date (113/3 days) had the longest period of physiological maturity, respectively. Also, KSC704 had the highest plant height and stem diameter, and KSC647 had the highest number of leaves. Also, the maximum leaf area, the growth rate of crop in the flowering stage was related to the cultivar KSC704 on the second and third planting date, respectively, and the maximum relative growth rate and the net absorption rate in the first vegetative stages were related to the cultivar KSC704 on the third planting date and the second planting date.

Overall, the second planting date and KSC704 variety are suggested as the suitable date and variety for Karaj city.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of planting date(13 May,10 June And 8 July) and corn cultivars(KSC400,KSC647 And KSC 704) on the yield and yield components in Karaj. An experiment was conducted as a split-plot design based on randomized complete blocks with four replications in the research farm of the University of Tehran. The results showed that the highest yield belonged to the second planting date (11.98 t.ha-1), the third planting date (11.56 t.ha-1), the first planting date (11.18 t.ha-1), respectively. The results revealed that in the first and third planting dates, corn grain yield was decreased due to the occurrence of the high daily temperatures in the reproductive stage. Furthermore, a coincidence of the decreasing temperatures with the grain filling period in autumn led to corn grain yield reduction. Due to the appropriateness of the reproductive stages in the second planting date, the length of seed abortion was decreased and the length and size of the ear, the weight of the ear, the number of seeds per ear, and grain yield were increased. The results revealed that the 400 cultivar (10.25 t.ha-1) in July, 647 (12.35 t.ha-1) in May and 704 (13.77 t.ha-1) in June had the highest yields in the study area. In addition, to reduce the frequency of irrigation and save water, it is recommended to cultivate medium and early maturing varieties of corn on 13 May and 8 July sowing dates, respectively.

Identification of the most effective indicators as well as the effect of spatial and temporal differences on the yield of rainfed chickpeas in major cultivation areas of Kermanshah province were the main objectives of this research. A map of major rainfed chickpea cultivation areas in the province was drawn by crop statistics. Then, the farms of this crop were extracted using the digital map layer of chickpea fields on the received images of Modis sensor from 2000 to 2021. In the next step, 9 plant spectral indices for chickpeas over the four climatic regions of Kermanshah in the flowering growth stage were calculated during a period of 22 years. These 9 spectral indices, together with the variable of total precipitation as independent variables and yield data as a dependent variable entered into the stepwise regression model. The results showed that NDVI and precipitation indices are the most effective indices of yield variability during flowering stage of chickpea in Kermanshah. Furthermore, NDVI, PVI and SAVI indices in the cities of Islamabade Gharb, Dalahou and Songhar are the most effective indices during the studied period, respectively. The results of validation revealed that the statistical model of Kermanshah city was more accurate than other cities. The correlation coefficient of the statistical model for estimating chickpea yield in this city was 0.69 with a standard error of 84 kg/ha-1. In addition, the relative deviation values of the statistical model of this city were less than other models.

Nowadays the study of climate conditions and potential of each climatic region in order to exploit the possibility of natural ventilation and create comfortable conditions in the interior of buildings is of interest to many researchers, designers and construction architects. Considering the climatic characteristics in humid climates, the main objective of this research is to analyze the potential of natural ventilation in Gilan province regrading to its climatic conditions. To do so, the hourly data of six weather stations including Manjil, Astara, Bandar-e-Anzali, Lahijan, Talash, and Rasht was extracted from IRIMO. These data include wind direction and speed, temperature, dew point, sea level pressure, station level pressure, relative humidity, minimum temperature, maximum temperature, cooler temperature, vapor pressure, saturated vapor pressure. Then, the climatic potential of natural ventilation was calculated for a period of 17 years (2004-2020) using the CPNV numerical model. The results demonestrated that Manjil and Bandar-e-Anzali stations had the highest and lowest natural ventilation climatic potential among the studied stations, respectively. By examining the effect of location and geographical factors, it was found that two factors including the distance from the sea and the height of the station can be effective factors in this potential. However, the station’s height factor showed the greatest impact on the climatic potential of natural ventilation of the studied stations with a correlation coefficient of 0.97. Furthermore, designing thermal maps illustrated that Manjil station has the highest number of comfortable hours compared to other stations. In other words, due to being farther from the sea, higher altitude than the studied stations, windy weather conditions and more balanced water conditions Manjil has the highest potential of natural ventilation throughout the year among the stations of Gilan province.

Rising temperatures and the formation of Urban Heat Islands (UHI) are the main consequences of population growth and uncontrolled expansion of cities. Green infrastructures are one of the nature based solutions. These infrastructures can be considered as an important strategy to reduce the damages caused by urban development and increase the quality of citizens’s life. Landscape ecology and its metrics are among the methods of evaluating green infrastructure in urban environments. Hence, the main objective of this research is to evaluate changes in urban green infrastructure during the period of 2013-2019 in Qazvin city. To do so, green infrastructures changes were investigated using remote sensing data and landscape metrics including presence (Class Area), stability (Mean Patch Size) and distribution (Patch Density, Mean Euclidean Distance Neighbor) in three regions of Qazvin. The results showed a decrease of 73.71 hectares in the Class Area (presence) and an increase of 0.1061 hectares in their Mean Patch Size (stability). Furthermore, the density of green infrastructures has experienced 0.8075 decrease per 100 hectares while the Mean Euclidean distance neighbor has increased about 5.5846 meters. These results indicate the conversion of small classes of green infrastructures to bigger classes and increase their stability despite the decrease in their presence. Therefore, planning and management by creating and expansion of green lands seems necessary in order to reduce the effects of urban development, improve the quality of citizen’s life and preserving green infrastructures of Qazvin.

Soil depth temperature is one of the most effective factors on agricultural products. However, the it has highest missing data in synoptic weather stations. Hence, this research aims to evaluate soil depth temperature changes and determine the accuracy and applicability of ECMWF re-analysis data in estimation of SDT. To do so, soil depth temperature data for different depths (5,10, 20, 30, 50 and 100 cm) of Mehrabad, Geophysic, Shomal-e-Tehran and Doushan Tapeh stations were extracted in hourly time intervals (03, 09, 15 UTC) from Iran’s Meteorology Organization. Then, trend analysis was carried out by Mann-Kendall test. Also, gridded re-analysis SDT data of ERA5 were extracted from ECMWF from 1997 to 2018 statistical period. Re-analysis data were convert from Netcdf format to text using GIS. Then, their accuracy was analyzed by ME, MAE and RMSE tests. The climatic trend of soil depth temperature presents the general increase trend in all studied stations during the 1997-2018. Furthermore, the results showed close correlations between observational and re-analysis data at different depths. Re-analysis data could mainly reproduce the temporal-spatial distributions of soil depth temperature in study area. The correlation coefficient between observational and re-analysis data was 0.97 and 0.95 for first and second studied depths of the soil, respectively. It indicates a significant linear relationship between observational data and ERA5 re-analysis data in hourly time intervals. However, the ERA5 overestimates the SDT data in comparison with observational data

Human thermal comfort is strongly dependent on climatic parameters variations. Variations of climatic parameters such as air temperature, precipitation, and wind speed under the effect of atmospheric teleconnection patterns can influence thermal conditions. Therefore, the main objective of this study is evaluating the effect of North-Caspian Sea Pattern (NCP) on Human Thermal Discomfort (HDI) in southern coasts of Caspian Sea. To do so, air temperature and dew point temperature data at 2 m, were extracted from the reanalysis of the ERA-Interim/European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) in monthly time scale during 1979-2018 with a spatial resolution of 0.125° × 0.125°. Then, different phases of NCP were extracted including positive, negative and neutral phases. Human thermal discomfort index was calculated during each phases. Also, influence of NCP’s intensity on thermal conditions were analyzed for positive and negative phases regarding to neutral phase and ΔHDI were computed. Results illustrated that cold stress is predominate thermal conditions during the positive phases of NCP in studied region while negative phase of NCP cause more comfortable conditions especially in eastern coasts of Caspian Sea. Also, intensity of NCP can influence the thermal conditions of the region.

The urban heat island (UHI) effect is one of the main consequences of a changing nature in the cities. The heat island effect is the rise of the temperature in urban areas compared to the surrounding rural areas and today has become a very important issue in urban climatology. Rapid growth and insufficient attention to natural elements affecting the planning and implementation of urban plans has many environmental consequences, including the phenomenon of heat island that results from the concentration of human activities and land use/cover changes. Many studies established the correlation between expansion of urban green spaces and reduction in UHI intensity. However, higher economic values and lack of urban lands due to high density, population growth and etc. are the main limitation of green space expansion in horizontal scale in urban areas. In this regard, improvement in the surface cover of buildings and constructions that have been covered with cement and asphalt concrete is examined as one of the measures to mitigate the urban heat island phenomenon. Roofs constitute about 20–25% of the urban surface. Conversion of traditional roofs into planted roofs or green roofs can give rise to many benefits such as mitigation of UHI effect, increase air quality, urban flood management, energy consumption management and etc.Tehran, as the capital of Iran, has a relatively irregular and unplanned urban design pattern. On the other hand, the per capita green space in this city is less than standard at global scale. Furthermore, the distribution of green space across the city is heterogeneous. Lack of green space across the city led to formation of UHI with multiple cores. Hence, the main objective of the present research is to explain and evaluate the effect of development of green roofs as a way to reduce the intensity of Tehran Heat Islands and regarding to lack of space in horizontal scale in Tehran.

After reviewing library resources and previous studies, statistical combination method and numerical modeling of climate micro scale were used to study the effect of green roofs on the intensity adjustment of Heat islands of the city. In this study, the data obtained from field survey as well as the outputs of the Envi-met micro-scale model in the spring, summer and autumn periods, were used to extract the temperature difference between the two green roofs and the reference roof in 17 district of the Tehran’s municipality. To collect field data two air temperature and relative humidity were installed both on the studied roofs (one meter above the selected green roof and reference roof located in 17 district of the Tehran’s municipality). The time intervals for data recording was considered in 15 minutes. Then, the studied area was design using Envi-met micro-scale model to determine the ability of the model in simulation of the roof’s materials impact on urban microclimate. Finally, the correlation between actual and simulated data were determined.

Results demonstrated that, temperature difference between the hours of afternoon and night-time was greater than in the morning during the all studied seasons. Also, the maximum temperature difference between the two green roof and the reference one in this season was occurred at 00:00 and 06:00 A.M. while the maximum temperature differences was observed at 22:00 P.M. Furthermore, the comparison of temperature in both studied roofs during the four seasons of the year illustrated the maximum differences between seasons was occurred in the autumn in comparison with other seasons. By examining the outputs of the model in terms of the actual situation in the area, it became clear that the amount of difference between the two studied roofs decrease as we approach the early morning hours. But in the afternoon there was an increase in the range that continues until night, and with numerical and graphical data analysis, it is determined that the maximum temperature difference between the two green roofs and the reference occurred at night. That is exactly when the heat island reaches its peak. Therefore, green roofs are one of the most important ways to adjust the intensity of the heat islands. On the other hand, to evaluate the accuracy of the Envi-met model for simulation of the reality, the simulated data were correlated with actual and measure data. Based on the results, simulated and actual data in spring and summer are moderately correlated (R=0.53). While the correlation between simulated and actual data in autumn is low.

Increasing the proportion of green spaces in urban areas has been recommended as one of the key UHI mitigation strategies in several research studies. Green infrastructure, including green roofs and green walls, is important for future urban forms. These infrastructure components have the potential to reduce temperatures in urban areas, particularly in the summer time and on individual hot days. in this regard, a methodology to test the resilience of the most commonly used UHI mitigation strategies in city of Tehran, Iran, was presented with assistance of simulation results using a prognostic three-dimensional microclimate model simulation (Envi-met). In addition, this research highlights the positive effects that vegetation has on the UHI mitigation, and at building scale. Indeed, green roofs are capable of decreasing the use of energy for cooling and heating and as a consequence, the peaks of energy use. Based on the results, the urban-wide conversion of the black roofs into white or green roofs can have positive effects not only on micro-scale, but also on urban scale. In conclusion, the microclimate study proved that a green roof retrofit will have significant impact on the rooftop microclimate. However, the expansion of vertical green spaces in the city of Tehran needs special incentive policies. Also, the function or the performance of a green roof needs to continue over time in order for the benefits to be realized. Therefore, the green roof must be properly maintained and reorganized at least each 2 years.

Today, urban development and air pollution are the most important issues concerning urban climate that can affect the quality of urban life. Despite the significant progress made in the fuel and engine technology, emission of pollutants in urban environments is still prevalent. As in many other countries, the environmental issue is particularly evident in the large cities of Iran such as Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan, Shiraz, Arak, and Karaj. The rapid urbanization, industrialization, and increasing trend in the use of motor vehicles have caused numerous environmental issues, including the production and distribution of different types of air pollutant, especially in Tehran, the capital. Tehran’s confinement by mountains and meteorological factors such as temperature inversion, the persistence of high-pressure systems with cold air, and local winds exacerbate pollution. Hence, numerous studies have been conducted on air pollution in Tehran. The results have indicated that 73% to 85.5% of the air pollution observed at urban stations is caused by temperature inversions, which are influenced by high pressure and surface radiation. According to the above research, the key factors involved in the spread of pollution over the streets besides the spatial and natural factors that can affect the distribution of air pollutants (i.e. geographic location, topography, etc.) include the arrangement of the buildings, particularly in terms of street width and orientation, distance, and intersections. It should be noted given the significance of the issue that the pollution can have extensive effects although it occurs at the street level, due to the interaction of the dispersal and diffusion of pollutants through meteorological conditions (wind speed and direction and atmospheric stability), the configuration of buildings, and the orientation of streets. Therefore, the main purpose of this research was to specify the characteristics of pollutant flow and dispersion on urban passages in micro scale. For that purpose, the meteorological data, including air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed and direction, were extracted from Iran Meteorological Organization (IMO) Geophysics Weather Station (the closest station to the area under investigation) for a 20-year statistical period (1991-2010). Two areas (1 and 2) in Municipal District 6 were specified as making up the area under study in this research. Then, the pollutant dispersion data were obtained based on the relationship between traffic volume and pollutant production during two winter and summer months (July and January) and at three times of the day (morning, midday, and afternoon). Finally, the distribution of air pollutants was simulated using the ENVI-met microscale model for building configuration and street orientation in the area under investigation. The results demonstrated that street and pathway orientation plays an important role in the accumulation or distribution of pollutants. Accordingly, the density of pollutants is higher in streets that are perpendicular to the prevailing wind direction. Furthermore, the concentration of pollutants in the main streets of the area under study exhibited a significant relationship with their directions. Pollutant concentration was moderate in streets with prevailing north winds, while the highest and lowest amounts of pollutant concentration were observed in streets with south and southwest winds, respectively. It can be concluded that consideration of the climate conditions in urban design and development (wind speed/direction in particular) can be effective in improvement of air quality in urban areas.

The UN Population Demographics in 2014 has shown that there is a reversal of the demographic trend of urban and rural areas, with the world's largest population (54%) living in urban areas, and this trend is increasing, while by the year 1990 A small population lived in cities. This undocumented development leads to major changes in the environment, including the reduction of natural surfaces and the replacement of these with artificial and human land covers. Urban areas are often identified with impenetrable and constructional surfaces that often have a negative impact on ecosystems. Urbanization changes the natural landscape into human-made with different physical characteristics. Changing and transformation in surface land covers has an important effect on energy balance and local climate. As a result, urban climate is formed from the climatic factors of the city that are changing with the impact of urban factors over time.In order to study the effect of urban expansion on climatic condition of the Tehran, daily precipitation, minimum and maximum temperature data were extracted from Mehrabad synoptic station during a period of 50 statistical periods (1966-2016). Different methods and tests have been used to analyze trends and changes in climatic conditions. The trend in the cluster data series was studied using the Mann-Kendall test. The Mann-Kendall test, is a base-rating nonparametric test for trend analysis which was first used by Mann for public applications in 1945 and revised by Kendall in 1948 and presented in a different way. Then, RClimDex software was used to extract the process of extreme weather indicators. This software has been developed by Zheng and Yang (2004&2005) at the Canadian Weather Service's Climate Research Branch. In the present study, 23 indicators of ETCCDI indicators were used using RClimDex. Indicators are divided into five groups of indicators based on percentiles, periodic indicators, absolute indices, threshold indicators and other indicators (such as temperature change overnight).Based on non-graphical Mann-Kendall Test, both temperature parameters (minimum and maximum temperatures) have an incremental trend during the 1966-2016 period, which is more evident at the minimum temperature. While precipitation in the same period of time has been a slight downward trend. Also, based on the Mann-Kendall graphical test, when there is a significant trend in data, the lines ui and u'i interrupt each other. The results of the Man-Kendall test show that the increase in minimum temperature is higher than the maximum temperature. Moreover, during 1976-1986, Tehran experienced rapid physical growth, and this period coincided with an increase in temperature, which continued until the end of the period. Based on the analysis of the temperature extremes index, the cold days indices (TX10p) is facing a downward slope. On the other hand, the Hot Days Index (TX90p) faces an upward slope in the period of 1966-2016. In fact, it can be concluded that during the study period, the percentage of hot days in the Mehrabad station is increasing and cold days are facing a decreasing trend. These results are consistent with the studies of Rahimzadeh et al. (2011), Niw et al. (2006) and Brown et al., 2010, on the trend of the temperature range of the nightly temperature range. Conclusion In recent years, the spread of cities and their growth has had a great impact on the environmental conditions in different parts of the world. In the meantime, some cities have been experiencing rapid and significant growth. Urban change has today had widespread effects on urban climatic conditions. One of these effects is the change in the temperature of the cities (formation of the UHI) and the increase in night temperatures. The present research was carried out to investigate the effects of the expansion of Tehran on the climatic conditions of the Mehrabad synoptic station. The study of the climate conditions of the Mehrabad station shows that during the study period, the air temperature of the Mehrabad station has undergone a change. So that the minimum and maximum temperature is facing an increasing trend, which is, of course, more severe at the minimum temperature. The average minimum temperature of the Mehrabad station during the 1996-75 period was about 10.9 ° C, reaching about 13.7 ° C in the period 2005-2015, and on the other hand, the average maximum temperature during the 1975-1996 period was about 5.5 ° C 22 ° C and in the period 2015-2005 reached about 23.6 ° C. In addition to temperature averages, temperature indices have also changed significantly at Mehrabad station so that cold and warm extreme events have decreasing and increasing trend, respectively.