Meteorological Influences of a Major Dust Storm in Southwest Asia During July-August 2018
Abstract
Dust storms can be hazardous for aviation, military activities, and respiratory health and can occur on a wide variety of spatiotemporal scales with little to no warning. To properly forecast these storms, a comprehensive understanding of the meteorological dynamics that control their evolution is a prerequisite. To that end, we chose a major dust storm that occurred in Southwest Asia during July-August 2018 and conducted an observation-based analysis of the meteorological conditions that influenced the storms evolution. We found that the main impetus behind the dust storm was a large-scale meteorological system (i.e., a cyclone) that affected Southwest Asia. It seems that cascading effects from this system produced a smaller, near-surface warm anomaly in Mesopotamia that may have triggered the dust storm, guided its trajectory over the Arabian Peninsula, and potentially catalyzed the development of a small low-pressure system over the southeastern end of the peninsula. This low-pressure system may have contributed to some convective activity over the same region. This type of analysis may provide important information about large-scale meteorological forcings for not only this particular dust storm but also for future dust storms in Southwest Asia and other regions of the world.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 09, 2022
- Accession Number
- AD1184596
Entities
People
- Freddie D. Spates
- John W Thompson
- Kindra I. Carter
- Phillip D. Elliott
- Ross E. Alter
- Sandra LeGrand
- Sherman D. Minnigan
- William D. Ledbetter
Organizations
- Engineer Research and Development Center