Evaluation of temporal-spatial changes of aerosol optical depth in the South Baluchestan basin

Mohammadi, Parvin; Montazeri, Majid; Masoodian, Seyed Abolfazl

doi:10.22111/jneh.2024.47074.1995

Evaluation of temporal-spatial changes of aerosol optical depth in the South Baluchestan basin

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

¹ PhD Student of Climatology, Department of Physical Geography, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

² Associate Professor of Climatology, Department of Physical Geography, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

³ Professor of Climatology, Department of Physical Geography, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

10.22111/jneh.2024.47074.1995

Abstract

Aerosol optical depth (AOD) is a dimensionless quantity that shows the amount of light passing through the atmosphere and expresses the amount of absorption and scattering caused by aerosols in the path of light passage. Knowing AOD is necessary to understand its effects on air quality and provide a strategy of confrontation with it. South Baluchistan basin is affected by dust and high concentrations of aerosol due to its geographical location. Therefore, in this study, the tempo-spatial changes of AOD in this basin have been analyzed. In this research, the data of the AOD product (MOD 04 L2) and, the Deep Blue algorithm of MODIS sensor of Terra satellite during the period of 2002-2019 were used. Principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis were used for data processing. The results showed that the first component alone explains 84% of the variance of the data. The pattern of temporal changes shows that this component exists throughout the year, but it decreases in the cold period and increases in the warm period of the year. Based on the temporal changes of the AOD, the basin can be divided into four temporal periods: winter, spring-autumn, transitional, and summer. The mean AOD reaches 0.69 in the summer pattern. This means that the basin has relatively dusty weather during the summer. Based on spatial distribution, the basin can be divided into three areas: mountainous, piedmont, and plains. The average AOD in the basin is 0.38, which reaches 0.62 in the plain zone. The AOD regime is the same in all three zones, but the plain zone is significantly different from the other two zones in terms of quantity. The high deal of AOD in this basin is related to regional factors that are active in the warm period of the year (Indian monsoon) in addition to local factors.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Climatology

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