Investigating aerosol optical depth and their thresholds in West Asia and their relationship with vegetation

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Department of Geography, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Department of Geography, Faculty of Dr. Ali Shariati Letters and Humanities, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.

Abstract

Dust is a common meteorological phenomenon in arid and semi-arid regions of the world, which is caused by natural or human factors. The frequency and intensity of dust have increased in the last two decades. Identifying the active sources of dust is the first step in dealing with it and reducing its harmful consequences. For this purpose, two indices of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor of the Terra satellite have been used for the last two decades (2001-2021). To investigate dust events in the study area, the frequency of occurrence of aerosol optical depth (FoO) was investigated with three thresholds of 0.3, 0.5, and 1. The maximum AOD values are related to the spring and summer seasons. Regions with an aerosol optical depth of more than 1 are only limited to the warm period of the year and the areas of Mesopotamia region, Arabian deserts, desert areas of Syria, Dasht-e Margo and Dasht-e Sistan, and eastern Pakistan. The nationwide dust that covers wide areas in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf countries and the west and southwest of Iran are mostly more than 0.5 in terms of AOD values. In general, six hotspots of dust can be identified based on the values of the AOD and FoO index for the West Asian region. These six regions are 1- Thar desert in Pakistan, 2- Rub' al Khali, Ad-Dahna, Al Nufud Al Kabirdesert in Saudi Arabia, 3- the Syrian desert, 4- the Desert regions of Iraq and especially the Mesopotamia region, 5- Dry and desert regions of Oman, 6- Dasht-e Margo and Dasht-e Sistan (in Afghanistan and Iran). These dust hotspots are found in arid, desert, and hot climate regions (BWh). The only effective hotspots in northeastern Iran are located in the arid, desert, and cold climate region (BWk) in Turkmenistan. In general, dust hotspots have an inverse relationship with vegetation, although this relationship is more for spring hotspots. Regardless of the determining role of surface characteristics in the occurrence of dust, two meteorological phenomena, the summer Shamal wind and the wind of 120 days of Sistan, have a determining role in the formation of hotspots with higher AOD values of 0.5 and 1. The area-averaged time series of MOD04 product values show that the value of AOD is increasing. Also, the results showed that the increase in AOD values from the 2010s onwards shows an upward trend compared to that of the 2000s. The dry bed of lakes and alluvial sources (Mesopotamia), human activities on the one hand, and the occurrence of drought and climate change, on the other hand, are directly related to the extent and intensity of dust events in West Asia.

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References

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Journal of the Earth and Space Physics
Volume 50, Issue 2
online publication date: 6 July 2024
July 2024
Pages 481-498

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