| Abstrakt: |
Land use/land cover (LULC) change contributes significantly to the formation of hotspot dust sources (HDSs). The Tigris-Euphrates Basin (TEB), a major source of dust storms globally, has experienced severe LULC changes. This study assessed the hazardous HDSs within LULC change categories (2000–2020) in TEB by classifying them into from very low to very high hazardousness classes based on the frequency, intensity, and continuity of dust events. The study calculated frequency using the autocorrelation function plot, investigated intensity based on the aerosol optical depth (AOD), and considered continuity by counting consecutive days when a dust event emitted dust with an AOD value ≥ 0.4. The study found that the most frequent dust events occurred in bare ground and rangeland. Highly intense HDSs occurred in croplands, while dried water beds and seasonal marshes contained more continuous dusts. Also, bare ground included the highest number of hazardous HDSs. The spatial distribution of HDSs showed that the northwestern region of Lake Therthar and the northern deserts of Muthanna Governorate significantly contributed to the formation of hazardous HDSs due to drought and vegetation cover conditions of the region. Sequential pattern mining of the HDSs within LULC changes revealed that transitions between rangeland and bare ground generated the most hazardous HDSs. Conversely, rangeland and bare ground to croplands and rangeland to seasonal marsh were the least hazardous frequent changes. Our observations confirmed that rapid LULC changes, tree cutting, and the drying up of water bodies can exacerbate hazardous dust emissions in the TEB. |
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