Unraveling the link between agricultural patterns and dust storm occurrence in Mesopotamia
Dust storms have been an increasing concern in the Middle East. Severe drought events and human activities, particularly water and land management, have led to emerging dust sources in the last few decades. This study combines spatio-temporal maps of land susceptibility to dust storm incidence with...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ada62a |
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| author | Hossein Hashemi Abdulhakim M Abdi Amir Naghibi Pengxiang Zhao Sara Brogaard Ali Torabi Haghighi Ali Mansourian |
| author_facet | Hossein Hashemi Abdulhakim M Abdi Amir Naghibi Pengxiang Zhao Sara Brogaard Ali Torabi Haghighi Ali Mansourian |
| author_sort | Hossein Hashemi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Dust storms have been an increasing concern in the Middle East. Severe drought events and human activities, particularly water and land management, have led to emerging dust sources in the last few decades. This study combines spatio-temporal maps of land susceptibility to dust storm incidence with agricultural land use change data to examine the link between farming patterns and dust storm generation in the Tigris and Euphrates Basin from 2000 to 2021. Farmland and bare ground trends depend heavily on water availability, affecting land susceptibility to dust storms. We observed a direct connection between cropping regimes and high land susceptibility to becoming a dust source. Our analysis found no significant correlation between low to intermediate dust storm source (DSS) susceptibility and bare ground trends. However, we found a positive correlation between highly susceptible land and areas where bare ground showed an increasing trend, including the lands that were abandoned for more than 50% of the study period. Among the farming patterns, i.e. single and double cropping, single cropping is more prone to DSS occurrence, underscoring the importance of year-round vegetation cover and effective water management. The disturbed lands, particularly those abandoned post-cropping, show higher susceptibility to DSS incidence. Between 2008 and 2012, dust sources and land susceptibility increased substantially, alongside a significant rise in bare ground, possibly due to severe drought. We highlight cases where changes in farming patterns and land abandonment contribute to the increased or decreased susceptibility of land to being a DSS, as well as consistent susceptibility in the cases where there is no land use change. Given the broad geographical scope of the study, this research underscores the need for further investigation, combining field measurements with remote sensing to obtain a more detailed picture of the link between farming patterns, land abandonment, and dust storms. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-796f5064dd624d23ac16a10764994c9c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-796f5064dd624d23ac16a10764994c9c2025-01-14T18:11:18ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262025-01-0120202401110.1088/1748-9326/ada62aUnraveling the link between agricultural patterns and dust storm occurrence in MesopotamiaHossein Hashemi0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2160-1772Abdulhakim M Abdi1Amir Naghibi2Pengxiang Zhao3Sara Brogaard4Ali Torabi Haghighi5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5157-0156Ali Mansourian6Division of Water Resources Engineering, Lund University , Lund, Sweden; Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), Lund University , Lund, SwedenCentre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), Lund University , Lund, Sweden; Centre for Environmental and Climate Science, Lund University , Lund, SwedenDivision of Water Resources Engineering, Lund University , Lund, Sweden; Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), Lund University , Lund, SwedenCentre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), Lund University , Lund, Sweden; Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Sciences, Lund University , Lund, SwedenCentre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), Lund University , Lund, Sweden; Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS), Lund University , Lund, SwedenWater, Energy, and Environmental Engineering Research Unit, University of Oulu , Oulu, FinlandCentre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), Lund University , Lund, Sweden; Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Sciences, Lund University , Lund, SwedenDust storms have been an increasing concern in the Middle East. Severe drought events and human activities, particularly water and land management, have led to emerging dust sources in the last few decades. This study combines spatio-temporal maps of land susceptibility to dust storm incidence with agricultural land use change data to examine the link between farming patterns and dust storm generation in the Tigris and Euphrates Basin from 2000 to 2021. Farmland and bare ground trends depend heavily on water availability, affecting land susceptibility to dust storms. We observed a direct connection between cropping regimes and high land susceptibility to becoming a dust source. Our analysis found no significant correlation between low to intermediate dust storm source (DSS) susceptibility and bare ground trends. However, we found a positive correlation between highly susceptible land and areas where bare ground showed an increasing trend, including the lands that were abandoned for more than 50% of the study period. Among the farming patterns, i.e. single and double cropping, single cropping is more prone to DSS occurrence, underscoring the importance of year-round vegetation cover and effective water management. The disturbed lands, particularly those abandoned post-cropping, show higher susceptibility to DSS incidence. Between 2008 and 2012, dust sources and land susceptibility increased substantially, alongside a significant rise in bare ground, possibly due to severe drought. We highlight cases where changes in farming patterns and land abandonment contribute to the increased or decreased susceptibility of land to being a DSS, as well as consistent susceptibility in the cases where there is no land use change. Given the broad geographical scope of the study, this research underscores the need for further investigation, combining field measurements with remote sensing to obtain a more detailed picture of the link between farming patterns, land abandonment, and dust storms.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ada62adust stormland use changehuman impactbare groundTigris and Euphrates Basin |
| spellingShingle | Hossein Hashemi Abdulhakim M Abdi Amir Naghibi Pengxiang Zhao Sara Brogaard Ali Torabi Haghighi Ali Mansourian Unraveling the link between agricultural patterns and dust storm occurrence in Mesopotamia Environmental Research Letters dust storm land use change human impact bare ground Tigris and Euphrates Basin |
| title | Unraveling the link between agricultural patterns and dust storm occurrence in Mesopotamia |
| title_full | Unraveling the link between agricultural patterns and dust storm occurrence in Mesopotamia |
| title_fullStr | Unraveling the link between agricultural patterns and dust storm occurrence in Mesopotamia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Unraveling the link between agricultural patterns and dust storm occurrence in Mesopotamia |
| title_short | Unraveling the link between agricultural patterns and dust storm occurrence in Mesopotamia |
| title_sort | unraveling the link between agricultural patterns and dust storm occurrence in mesopotamia |
| topic | dust storm land use change human impact bare ground Tigris and Euphrates Basin |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ada62a |
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