The effect of dust storms on some meteorological elements over Baghdad , Iraq: Study Cases

Abstract

Dust Storms play a key role in environmental pollution. They have a significant impact on climate- forcing factor by solar and terrestrial radiation by scattering and absorption. The dust storms represent a familiar phenomenon of frequent occurrence over Iraq atmosphere, especially during the period (April- September) of each year. In present study, the effect of 20 dust storms struck Baghdad city during the period (2008-2012) on meteorological parameters was investigated. These parameters include visibility, solar radiation, atmospheric pressure, air temperature and relative humidity. Through the comparison among the impact of the selected dust storms, it was found that the dust storm which struck Baghdad city 16th May 2008 had a more severe Impact on the meteorological variables than the other dust storms. the difference in the radiation to the (5229) W\m 2 from the day before the storm and the temperature dropped by 2.5 o C and visibility deteriorated greatly to be the difference from the day before the storm of dust in limits 6467 m. It has been found that this storm has had a greater impact on the meteorological variables from other storms. I. Introduction Dust storms are among the most severe environmental problems in certain regions of the World. Where they occur most of the dust in the atmosphere is from Aeolian origin. Estimates of the total Aeolian dust from deserts in the atmosphere are about 5×10 8 tons yr -1