Influence of dust storms on the climate change Analysis of Early September 2015 Dust Strom over Iraq | ||
| International Journal of Development | ||
| Article 1, Volume 5, Issue 1, 2016, Pages 1-9 PDF (572.43 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/idj.2016.146730 | ||
| Author | ||
| Morwa K. Ibrahim* | ||
| Department of Atmospheric Science, College of Science, Al-Mustansiriyah University Baghdad, Iraq | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Dust storms and suspended dust pose serious environmental problems in south-west Asia and natural hazards in the Middle East region. Major dust storms occur over the Middle East region nearly every spring and summer and cause destructive effects in some countries like Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Tigris-Euphrates alluvial plain has been recognized as the main dust source in this area. In early September 2015, a storm moved across Iraq towards the Arabian Gulf. The aim of this study is to investigate this storm based on MODIS satellite images, and meteorological parameters related to the formation and dynamics of dust storms. Maps of Aerosols Index (AI), mean sea level pressure, relative humidity, pressure vertical velocity, and horizontal velocity were analyzed for four days, starting from the day when the storm was initiated, near the Iraq-Syria borders until it reached the Strait of Hormuz inthe Arabian Gulf. On August 31, the storm was detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. Analysis of the meteorological parameters suggested this storm was produced due to the haboobs and Shamal effect. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Early September 2015 Dust Strom; Iraq; NASA’s Terra satellite; climate change | ||
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