The extraction of synoptic patterns, and monitoring the origin and pathway of dust storms; Case study: Ardabil province, Iran

Today, fine dust and dust storms have become one of the important issues and problems of Iran and other regions of the world. This study is conducted to identify synoptic patterns of the dust storms in Ardabil Province (Iran) and monitor the origin and pathway of its places. The studied period is 34 years (1979-2013). The data used in this work are from synoptic stations of Ardabil province and the NASA’s upper atmosphere database. To achieve the goals of the study, the Environment to Circulation, Hierarchical Clustering Methods, and HYSPLIT model were used. According to the results, three patterns of geopotential height at 500 hPa levels were identified. Pattern No. 1 and 2 are almost similar to each other and represent the occurrence of a deep trough that formed from Central Europe and extended to the middle of the Red Sea. Based on these patterns, the study area is located in the East of this trough. The third pattern represents the occurrence of cut-of-low pressure blocking over the Black Sea and adjacent areas and placement of Ardabil province in the East trough of the formed blocking. The origin of dust in patterns 1 and 2 is the Eastern regions of Iraq and West of Iran while in pattern 3 is at 500 hPa level of the central areas of Iraq and at pressure levels of 850 and 1000 hPa of the central regions of Syria.