Analysis and Clustering of Dust Storms in Estern of Iran

One of the most common and destructive phenomena in arid and desert regions is dust which can have negative effects on the environment. Eastern half of the country has always been exposed to this phenomenon due to its geographical location and even to 120-day winds. The present study aims analyze and Clustering dust storms in eastern of Iran. For this purpose, hourly data of dusty days, phenomena code, horizontal visibility, wind direction, speed and current weather of 17 weather stations in eastern Iran during period of 1986 to 2016 were used. Dust storm codes were used for statistical analysis. Then, trend type and value were detected using Mann-Kendall (MK) and Sen's estimator tests Using WRPLOT View, dust rose of the area was drawn. Results showed that the frequency of dust storms in July was the highest and the lowest occured in December. The intensity and distribution of dust in the south-east of the region was more than other regions. Results of MK test suggested a significant increase in southeast, central and northwest stations, while most stations in north part of the region showed a significant decrease. Dust rose results also probes the direction and speed of winds causing dusty storm were different in east and west of the region. The direction of wind causing dusty storm in the eastern half is between 70° to 300°, while in western part of the region, wind blows between 260° to 280° geographic coordinate system at speed of more than 11 m/s.