Dust storm surveying and detection using remote sensing data, wind tracing, and atmospheric thermodynamic conditions (case study: Isfahan Province, Iran)

One of the most important environmental problems in recent years in the Middle East including Iran is the dust storm events. The main goal of this research was to conduct statistical analyses to identify the dusty days with visibility to less than 1 km. This study also dealt with the recognition of sources of this phenomenon and the route for dusts to enter Isfahan Province. In this study, data were collected for a 20-year period (1994-2013) including daily dust data at the ground stations, brightness temperature at wavelengths of 11 mu m and 12 mu m, and GDAS data for tracking the dust particle route in HYSPLIT software. Naein and Airport stations with frequencies of 920 and 919 days of dust (respectively) were identified as two critical centers of dust in Isfahan province. The spring season had the highest number of days with dust. Also, the highest and lowest frequencies of this event were observed in April-May-June and December-January, respectively. The border area between Iraq and Syria, west and southwest of Iraq, was the main source of the dust transported to Isfahan. Thermodynamic conditions of atmosphere using the Skew-T diagrams were stable during the dust events in the study area.

Automated summary

This research conducted statistical analyses on dusty days in Isfahan province over a 20-year period, identifying the main sources of dust to be the border area between Iraq and Syria. The study found that the spring season had the highest number of dusty days.