Spatio-temporal distribution of atmospheric aerosols in western part of Iran based on MODIS spectral data

Unsuitable distribution, installation and maintenance costs for ground monitoring stations are issues in air pollution monitoring. Installed MODIS satellite on Aqua and Terra are able to identify aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrievals in troposphere and can be used for aerosol pollution monitoring in areas such as western Iran. In this study, MODIS level 3 data in Aqua and Terra were used to study the spatio-temporal distribution of aerosols over western Iran in 2000-2011. The results indicated that aerosols variations in Khuzestan Province is different and is much higher than other western Provinces of country. The AOD variation in western part of the country had decreasing trend over Ardabil, East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Qazvin, Gilan and Markazi Province whereas, AOD variation had increasing trend over Ilam, Khuzestan, Bushehr, Shahrekord, Zanjan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Kohkeluye and Boyerahmad, Lorestan and Hamedan Province. However, this trend in Khuzestan Province is significant (0.78±0.22). Khuzestan province has experienced high average of AOD in the period 2000-2011. According to the results obtained, AOD has decreasing trend from west to east and from south to north. Very high average was observed in summer season, particularly in southwestern Provinces such as Khuzestan, Bushehr and Ilam, but lower average was observed in autumn season. Based on the results of this study it seems that using MODIS Level 3 products is appropriate in order to evaluate the AOD spatio-temporal variation.