Analysis relation of vegetation cover on the number of dust event in Khorasan Razavi using geographic information system and remote sensing

Dust phenomenon is one of the climatic hazards in arid and semi-arid regions of the world that usually brings damages to human life and properties. In recent decades due to long droughts in Iran, the number of dust event increased and affected many cities and villages. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of vegetation and relationship with dust events in Khorasan Razavi province during 2004-2013 using Geographic information system (GIS) and Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). The data of dusty days in the region synoptic stations were provided from Meteorological Organization and the frequency of dusty days in different seasons were determined. Using the method of Normal Kriging in GIS, dusty days were zoned in the province. Vegetation map area, were provided using MODIS image in ENVI®4.8 software. The results showed closed relations between the number of dust event and vegetation distribution. In addition, decreasing of vegetations caused the increasing of the number of dust event. Results showed the number of dust event increased during the recent years and in 2008 and 2005 were recorded as the most and the least number of dust event respectively.