Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Dust/Sand Storms in Iraq Using MODIS Images

The Sand Dust Storms (SDS) phenomenon has become one of the climate variability phenomena that has an essential impact on human life in various sectors. Studying these phenomena has become of a special priority for many countries that suffer from climate change impacts. In this study, a long-term spatiotemporal analysis is conducted on SDS events in Iraq, which is known as one of the Middle Eastern countries suffering from these environmental phenomena. Middle East Dust Index (MEDI) values retrieved from forty MODIS-satellite data and climatological datasets for twelve synoptic stations from 2005 to 2019 are used to determine the main relationships controlling Iraq. Three factors are found to affect increasing SDSs: wind speed, temperature, and precipitation. The interpreted relationships between these factors show positively correlated relationships of wind speed, temperature, and MEDI (+ 0.68, + 0.81, +0.7) respectively with Sand Dust Storm Frequency (SDSF), while precipitation has shown negatively correlated relationship of SDSF equals (- 0.23). The findings of this study have proven that some parts of Iraq were exposed to massive SDS impacts, especially in the western and southern regions as a result of the proposed long-term spatiotemporal analysis.