Publications

Sharifikia, M; Rabbani, F (2020). Source routing and detection of dust storm in the Salt Lake basin of Qom in Iran. ARABIAN JOURNAL OF GEOSCIENCES, 13(14), 678.

Abstract
In the last decades, the frequency of dust storms has increasingly emerged in the central regions of Iran. This study investigated the SDS sources in the Salt Lake basin of Qom using daily visibility, wind speed, dust weather codes and NCEP/NCAR data, and MODIS and Sentinel-1 sensor datasets. Sample SDS days were selected by daily visibility and dust weather codes with 3-h interval ranging from 2000 to 2017. These sample SDS days were related to the 19 synoptic stations of the Salt Lake basin. Dust entry trajectories were determined through the HYSPLIT model and evaluated with the MODIS Deep Blue aerosol optical depth and atmospheric patterns. SDS sources were identified using Sentinel-1 radar images of IW mode and SLC type through radar interferometry technique. Analysis of variability and frequency in dusty days and wind speed indicated that in high wind speed and dusty days, frequency increases in the second half of the course. SDS entry trajectories indicated that the SDS mainly entered in the study area during April and May from Iraq and eastern Syria and also during June and July from the east of Iran and the study basin. Study of the regional atmospheric circulation represented that the thermodynamic relationship between the thermal low pressure and trough at 500 hPa in spring provides instability and ascending air in Iraq and eastern Syria. In summer, the pressure gradient between thermal low pressure in the east of Iran and the Caspian high pressure intensifies the wind in the eastern part of Iran from the surface to 850 hPa level. Investigation of the dust pickup areas with radar interferometry technique revealed that as far as Iraq and eastern Syria were concerned, the eastern part of Al-Anbar province in the western desert of Iraq was the first source, desert areas in central and southern Iraq were the second source, and the eastern part of Syria ranked the third source of dust. In Iran, the main sources of SDS are located in the eastern regions of the Salt Lake basin as newfound region, the southeastern areas of Semnan province, the northwest of Yazd, and the northeast of Isfahan in the central desert of Iran. In recent years, there has been more abundance of dust originated from the eastern SDS trajectories.

DOI:
10.1007/s12517-020-05596-0

ISSN:
1866-7511