Regional maximum wind speed frequency analysis for the arid and semi-arid regions of Iran

Although many papers have been published on the role of wind speed on wind erosion, most of them did not consider the probability or return period of wind speed and its role in wind erosion. This study deals with this characteristic of wind speed in arid and semi-arid regions of Iran. Because at-site frequency analysis is not sufficient for extending wind frequency to locations with no data, the method of L-moments was applied for regional frequency analysis. The results of this study showed the Generalized Logistic (GLOG) distribution model to be the best regional distribution model for 3-h maximum mean annual wind speeds within homogeneous region based on goodness-of-fit test measurement, ZDist. The extension of different wind quantiles to the region showed that the center, southwestern and northwestern parts of the study area could be more vulnerable regions to wind erosion than other parts. The comparison of wind energy for different wind speed return periods indicates a nonlinear trend in wind energy when the return periods increase. Therefore, it is important to apply wind frequency analysis in wind erosion control projects because the risk of higher wind speed does not increase with linear function.