Investigation of Temporal and Spatial Distribution of Days with Dust in the West and Southwest of Iran

Dust phenomenon has now become one of the emerging natural hazards in the country, a phenomenon that affects its natural and human conditions with its harmful effects on different aspects. Therefore, in this research, the temporal –spatial distribution of dust in west and southwest of Iran and at meteorological stations located in three provinces of Eilam, Khuzestan and Kermanshah were investigated. For this purpose, the statistics of dust days was collected from the Meteorological Organization of Iran for the statistical period of 1986-2008. At first, the necessary data set was considered for normalization, and then the time distribution of this phenomenon at the level of the stations in the study area was determined in a graph. Further, according to the GIS and ArcGIS10.2 software, the distribution of the annual and monthly spatial days along with dust in west and southwest of the country based on different interpolation methods were determined. The results showed that the number of days with dust in Dehloran, Ahvaz and Dezful stations is at the highest level and in the southern provinces of Eilam and Khuzestan the most critical conditions are observed and from north to south of the region, the number of days of dust increases. Also, the results showed that the distribution of this phenomenon is not affected by regional climate systems due to topographic variation and altitude of the west of the country, and the most days with dust in the southwest are observed in Khuzestan province. In the western regions of the country, there is a high frequency in the middle of the spring. The spatial distribution of this phenomenon is more than the latitude and altitude elevation. According to the results, the criticality of the whole region is important, but in Khuzestan province, conditions are in a more critical situation. Managing a crisis before and during this natural hazard is important for better adaptation to reduce its harmful effects.