Ismail Sabbah
The Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, Kuwait
Title: Dust and climat in Kuwait
Biography
Biography: Ismail Sabbah
Abstract
We investigate the consistency between Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) retrieved by MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite and measurements collected by ground-based AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) site in Kuwait for 2007-2012. A good correlation (r = 0.7) is obtained between the two data sets. The concentration of particles with geometric mean radius ranges of 0.05–15 μm has been studied as well. Seasonal variations are clearly found in the shape and magnitude of the volume size distributions (VSDs) for PM2.5 and coarse particles. The highest concentrations of aerosol coarse particles are found during the spring. Both PM2.5 and coarse particles concentrations increase substantially during dust storms, reaching the highest values during the dust storm of 24 May 2012. The method of superposed epoch analysis is used to test the influence of the dust on meteorological parameters in 2012. Increases in wind speed together with significant reductions in visibility and diurnal temperature range (DTR) during dusty days are observed. Additionally air temperature decreases one day after dust occurrence. These effects can be due to scattering of sunlight back to space by the suspended dust particles.