Long-term variation of dust episodes over the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

This paper deals with the investigation of long-term variability of atmospheric dust over the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The climatology of dust episodes (dust events, dust storms, and severe dust storms) is compiled based on the hourly observations and synoptic codes recorded at four different stations over UAE between the years 1983–2014. The diurnal, temporal, monthly, and inter-annual variations of dust episodes and their relation with the mean wind speed, maximum wind speed, and temperature are discussed. Dust episodes show a clear diurnal variation in all the stations. The duration of dust storms is large compared to dust events. For instance, dust events over the UAE persist for 2–5 h while dust storms last for about 5–11 h. Dust storms also show clear seasonal variability with the maximum occurring during winter and the minimum during summer whereas most of the dust events occur during the months of March and April. The inter-annual variation of dust events shows a significant decrease while dust storms depict a moderate increase over the UAE. The synoptic scale climatology of all dust storms is also analyzed and shows changes in wind direction to the south-west prior to 2 days of the dust storm generation. The climatology of wind direction and wind speed during the dust episode indicates that 90% of dust episodes are coming from the southwest direction. These observed results are discussed in light of the current global warming scenarios with a special emphasis on the role of dust episodes on the regional enhancement of temperature.