A multidisciplinary approach to identify dust storm sources based on measurement of alternatives and ranking according to compromise solution (MARCOS): case of Yazd in Iran

Dust storms are one of the natural phenomena that occur in different countries, especially in arid and semiarid regions. This study aimed to identify pathways and dust sources affecting the Yazd city. Therefore, in the present study, a multidisciplinary approach based on the air parcel trajectories, geographical information and observational data was used to identify the origin of dust storms. In this regard, based on the available data, the analysis has been done in the 7-year period of 2012-2019. The Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model was used to model the backward trajectory of the air parcel on days associated with dust storms. The Cross-Referencing Backward Trajectory (CRBT) method was used to identify dust source contribution. To combine the results of different methods, including numerical modeling, satellite and meteorological data, the method of measurement of alternatives and ranking according to compromise solution (MARCOS) has been used. The CRBT results showed that Dasht-e Kavir has a significant contribution in dust storms in Yazd city. Also, effects of the air parcel height were investigated and the results showed that most of them passing through the Dasht-e Kavir had a height less than 500 m, and as a result, a significant amount of dust has been transported from this source to Yazd city. The MARCOS results showed that Dasht-e Kavir had the highest impact on dust storms in Yazd city.

Automated summary

This study used a multidisciplinary approach to identify the pathways and sources of dust storms affecting Yazd city. The results showed that Dasht-e Kavir, a large desert, had a significant contribution to the dust storms in Yazd city.