Investigating of Change Extent of Horizontal Visibility in Regions Affected by Dust events in Yazd Province

Specific climatic and geographical conditions of Yazd province have always exposed this region to a severe storm, and air pollution. Low visibility is the primary impact of air pollution due to atmospheric phenomena. Increasing dust density, along with a severe decrease in visibility, has harsh effects on the health of living things, socio-economic sections, and transportation systems. Therefore, identifying hazardous areas considering low visibility during dust events is important to manage and conserve the health of area residents. This study aims to evaluate the trend of changes in horizontal visibility of areas affected by dust storms in Yazd province, Iran. For this purpose, the quantitative model of horizontal visibility based on the relationship between Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) of MODIS sensor derived from Deep Blue algorithm and horizontal visibility data derived from meteorological stations in the study area was introduced the horizontal visibility of dust events from 2015 to 2017 was mapped using geostatistics Kriging method. Results showed a significant relationship between aerosol optical depth and horizontal visibility data at the 99% level. The AOD value ranges from 0.1 in areas with no dust to 1.9 in areas with severe dust at six studied events, and the visibilities coincide with AOD values from 64 m in dust centers to 19951 m beyond these centers were estimated. Therefore, AOD image measures with more than 0.8 have horizontal visibility less than 1000 m. Determining of horizontal visibility extent without spatial limitation and identification of areas affected dust events are advantages of the quantitative model of horizontal visibility and its mapping. According to land cover/use map in Yazd province, mineral and constructing sites, high-density dirt roads, sand dunes, poor rangelands are the most effective factors in increasing of dust density and low horizontal visibility in pathways of dust storms of this province.