Satellite and ground-based assessment of Middle East meteorological parameters impact on dust activities in western Iran

Abstract

In this article, the relation between meteorological parameters and dust activities in western Iran has been studied. Satellite-based data achieved from TOMS are used to investigate the dust activities within a time period of 30 years. In the rst part of this study, we examine the statistical trend of Aerosol Index (AI) and local meteorological parameters in 15 di erent stations. The same patterns of AI variations in all stations indicate that this region has always been subjected to dust storms which originate from similar sources in the neighboring countries that could be known as a sole dust transfer system. In the second part, we investigate the spatial correlation between the regional meteorological parameters in the Middle East and AI data to determine the contribution of meteorological parameters to dust levels. Broadly, results show that the precipitation in concurrent and antecedent months has a negative correlation with AI parameter of dusty months. Also, notably, we observed that the zonal wind speed in Iraq has a strong positive correlation with AI in our selected stations. This fact veri es that the zonal winds could be identi ed as the major cause of dust transfer system that was noted in the rst part of this study.