[Study On Monitoring the Dust Storms In the Eastern Region Of Syria Using Remote Sensing Technique and Geographic information System]

This study aimed to: 1) monitor the dust storms using NOAA AVHRR images, 2) produce maps of Dust Storms using Geo-statistical Analyst in Geographic Information System (GIS) depending on the data of the General Directorate of Climatology, 3) produce maps of visibility for 2005 and 2006, 4) study the relationship between dust storms and Winter and Summer vegetation cover in fixed dates (April and August where the maximum vegetation cover of winter and summer ) in the period 2005 to 2009, 5) study the impact of dust storms on infrastructure. The data consist of the frequency days of dust Storms from 2005 to 2009 for 6 climatology station distributed in the Eastern region of Syria. The data were collected at daily base then arranged monthly, seasonally, and yearly. Results showed: • Ability of monitoring dust storms by NOAA AVHRR images through application of the equation of Brightness Temperature Differences (BTD = ch4-ch5). Sum of BTD values in 2009 reached (360- 480) and they concentrated in the areas of Deir al-Zour, Sour, Basera, thebian, Khsham, Hagen, Albukamal, Sousa and Kesra. • Producing of dust storms maps using Geo-statistical Analyst in GIS. They showed the existence of a hotbed of dust storms in Deir al-Zour as the number of days of dust storms in Deir Al-Zour station (51-54 days) in 2009. The results also showed that the total number of days of dust storms increased through the years of the study. They were the least in 2005 (8 days), and the highest in 2009 (59 days). The phenomenon was the most in the spring season. • Producing visibility maps using satellite images utilizing from BTD equation. It was possible to divide the visibility according this BTD values to three classes (Dust haze 15-45, Blowing Dust 45-55 and Dust Storms 55-66). • Producing NDVI maps in the period of maximum winter and summer vegetation from 2005 -2009 showed increasing of an area of very light vegetation and decreasing of an area of light, medium and dense vegetation. The results showed an inverse relationship between the winter and summer vegetation and the number of days of dust storms. • Dust storms were also affected the infrastructure; railways and roads and increased the traffic accidents.