Background and Objective: Climate is a pervasive and important component of the ecosystem, and its changes, although insignificant, can affect other components to varying degrees. Among the most important climatic disasters that bring devastating environmental consequences every year are heat waves. The aim of the present study is to investigate the synoptic heat wave above 50 degrees Celsius on July 13, 2024, in Khuzestan Province.
Methodology: This research was conducted with an environmental perspective on atmospheric circulation, in which, first, the recorded temperatures of Khuzestan province stations and their changes were received from the Meteorological Department of Khuzestan province, and then by receiving data from the upper levels of the atmosphere and analyzing them, the causes of extreme heat were identified. In this research, to analyze the synoptic patterns leading to the heat wave in Khuzestan province, the atmospheric data at the level of 500 hectopascals were extracted from the NOAA website, which included maps of geopotential height, sea level pressure, omega, relative humidity and precipitable water, temperature, wind speed and thickness for the days of July 13-15, 2024.
Results and findings: The results showed that the penetration of thermal low pressure systems in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the establishment of the subtropical Azores high pressure in the southwest and the Siberian high pressure in northern Iran at a level of 500 hectopascals, were the most important influential patterns in creating the heat wave of July 13, 2024 in Khuzestan Province, which began 48 hours ago. The association of this low pressure system located in the region with its topographic pattern (Southern Zagros heights) and its counterclockwise currents from the south and southwest of the province caused the warm advection of the radiant temperature of the hot deserts of Lut, Saudi Arabia, and the Sea of Oman. On the other hand, by passing over the warm waters of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, it affected this region simultaneously with the onset of the hot season, which resulted in a sharp increase in temperature and provided the necessary synoptic conditions to create heat above 50 degrees Celsius in Khuzestan Province.