Climatology of dust days in the Central Plateau of Iran

Tayyebeh Mesbahzadeh, Ali Salajeghe, Farshad Soleimani Sardoo, Gholamreza Zehtabian, Abbas Ranjbar, Nir Y. Krakauer (), Mario Marcello Miglietta and Maryam Mirakbari
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Tayyebeh Mesbahzadeh: University of Tehran
Ali Salajeghe: University of Tehran
Farshad Soleimani Sardoo: University of Jiroft
Gholamreza Zehtabian: University of Tehran
Abbas Ranjbar: Atmospheric Science and Meteorological Research Center (ASMERC)
Nir Y. Krakauer: Department of Civil Engineering, City College of New York
Mario Marcello Miglietta: Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate of the Italian National Research Council (ISAC-CNR)
Maryam Mirakbari: University of Tehran

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2020, vol. 104, issue 2, No 32, 1817 pages

Abstract: Abstract Dust storms are a major natural hazard to human health. Severe erosive storms in parts of the Central Plateau of Iran have made the situation very difficult for the inhabitants, to the extent that some areas have become depopulated. To better understand this phenomenon, dust day counts at 37 synoptic stations from 1999 to 2018 were analyzed. Dust days were most common in June, with 45% of the total number occurring in summer (June–August) and 34% in spring (March–May), and were more frequent since 2008, as compared to 1999-2007. While the spatial pattern of dust days was complex, the highest number tended to be in the southeast of the region. The stations with the most dust days, Zabol, Zahedan, and Arak, averaged 126 days, 74 days, and 73 days of dust per year, respectively. The statistical distributions that most often best fitted the time series of number of dust days (NDD) per year were Johnson SB, Log-Logistic 3-Parameter, and Burr. These fitted probability distributions were used to estimate different return period values for annual number of dust days. For example, Zabol and Sirjan stations had, respectively, the highest and lowest 2-year return period NDD values, 125 and 2 days, respectively. Overall, the spatial pattern of the NDD at different return periods indicated that southeastern Iran, as well as some northwestern and eastern portions of the study region, had particularly high values of NDD at longer return periods, while much of the northern and southwestern margins of the region have low NDD at all return periods. These results may be useful for informing the regional management of dust storms.

Keywords: Number of days of dust; Frequency analysis; Return period; Central plateau of Iran (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1007/s11069-020-04248-6

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