{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,13]],"date-time":"2026-01-13T16:36:00Z","timestamp":1768322160337,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,10]],"date-time":"2021-03-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1615334400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012166","name":"National Key Research and Development Program of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["(2016YFA0602704)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["(2016YFA0602704)"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012166","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["41771050"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["41771050"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study assessed the aerosol climatology over Iran, based on the monthly data of aerosol optical depth (AOD) derived from the reanalysis-based Modern Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA-2) and the satellite-based Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). In addition, sea level pressure, wind speed, temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, and soil moisture from the ERA5 reanalysis dataset were applied to investigate the climate-related effects on temporal AOD changes. Our analysis identified positive and negative AOD trends during 2000\u20132010 and 2010\u20132018, respectively, which are likely linked to aeolian dust changes. The dust-driven AOD trends were supported by changes in the \u00c5ngstr\u00f6m exponent (AE) and fine mode fraction (FMF) of aerosols over Iran. During the early period (2000\u20132010), results of AOD-meteorology correlation analyses suggest reduced soil moisture, leading to increased dust emissions, whereas our results suggest that during the later period (2010\u20132018) an increase of soil moisture led to decreased AOD levels. Soil moisture appears to be a key factor in dust mobilization in the region, notably in southwestern Iran, being influenced by adjacent mineral dust sources. These phenomena were affected by large-scale sea level pressure transformations and the associated meteorology in the preceding winter seasons. Using a multiple linear regression model, AOD variability was linked to various meteorological factors in different regions. Our results suggest that climatic variations strongly affect the dust cycle, with a strong dependence on wintertime conditions in the region.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs13061045","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,10]],"date-time":"2021-03-10T20:51:42Z","timestamp":1615409502000},"page":"1045","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":31,"title":["Aerosol Trends during the Dusty Season over Iran"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Robabeh","family":"Yousefi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China"},{"name":"College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0695-3895","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fang","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China"}]},{"given":"Quansheng","family":"Ge","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6307-3846","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jos","family":"Lelieveld","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Atmospheric Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, P.O. Box 3060, 55020 Mainz, Germany"},{"name":"Climate and Atmosphere Research Center, The Cyprus Institute, P.O. Box 27456, 1645 Nicosia, Cyprus"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0130-8125","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abdallah","family":"Shaheen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Monsoon System Research, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China"},{"name":"College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2423","DOI":"10.5194\/acp-11-2423-2011","article-title":"Characteristics, sources, and transport of aerosols measured in spring 2008 during the aerosol, radiation, and cloud processes affecting Arctic Climate (ARCPAC) Project","volume":"11","author":"Brock","year":"2011","journal-title":"Atmos. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4521","DOI":"10.1002\/jgrd.50192","article-title":"The roles of aerosol direct and indirect effects in past and future climate change","volume":"118","author":"Levy","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"283","DOI":"10.1007\/s10311-017-0611-9","article-title":"World air particulate matter: Sources, distribution and health effects","volume":"15","author":"Mukherjee","year":"2017","journal-title":"Environ. Chem. Lett."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4879","DOI":"10.1109\/JSTARS.2014.2332427","article-title":"Synergetic Use of MODIS Cloud Parameters for Distinguishing High Aerosol Loadings from clouds over the North China Plain","volume":"7","author":"Shang","year":"2014","journal-title":"IEEE J. Sel. Top. Appl. Earth Obs. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"957","DOI":"10.5194\/acp-14-957-2014","article-title":"Modeled global effects of airborne desert dust on air quality and premature mortality","volume":"14","author":"Giannadaki","year":"2014","journal-title":"Atmos. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"397","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2013.04.095","article-title":"Inferring wavelength dependence of AOD and \u00c5ngstr\u00f6m exponent over a sub-tropical station in South Africa using AERONET data: Influence of meteorology, long-range transport and curvature effect","volume":"461","author":"Kumar","year":"2013","journal-title":"Sci. Total Environ."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Xia, X., Eck, T.F., Holben, B.N., Phillippe, G., and Chen, H. (2008). Analysis of the weekly cycle of aerosol optical depth using AERONET and MODIS data. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 113.","DOI":"10.1029\/2007JD009604"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7619","DOI":"10.5194\/acp-15-7619-2015","article-title":"Ground-based aerosol climatology of China: Aerosol optical depths from the China Aerosol Remote Sensing Network (CARSNET) 2002\u20132013","volume":"15","author":"Che","year":"2015","journal-title":"Atmos. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1337","DOI":"10.5194\/acp-18-1337-2018","article-title":"Nine-year spatial and temporal evolution of desert dust aerosols over South and East Asia as revealed by CALIOP","volume":"18","author":"Proestakis","year":"2018","journal-title":"Atmos. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"117736","DOI":"10.1016\/j.atmosenv.2020.117736","article-title":"Long-term AOD trend assessment over the Eastern Mediterranean region: A comparative study including a new merged aerosol product","volume":"238","author":"Shaheen","year":"2020","journal-title":"Atmos. Environ."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jastp.2019.01.019","article-title":"Variation in MERRA-2 aerosol optical depth and absorption aerosol optical depth over China from 1980 to 2017","volume":"186","author":"Sun","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Atmos. Sol. Terr. Phys."},{"key":"ref_12","first-page":"1337","article-title":"Intercomparison in spatial distributions and temporal trends derived from multi-source satellite aerosol products","volume":"18","author":"Wei","year":"2019","journal-title":"Atmos. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"137906","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2020.137906","article-title":"Long-term aerosol optical depth trend over Iran and identification of dominant aerosol types","volume":"722","author":"Yousefi","year":"2020","journal-title":"Sci. Total Environ."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Andreae, M.O. (1995). Climatic effects of changing atmospheric aerosol levels. Future Climates of the World: A Modelling Perspective, Elsevier Science B.V.","DOI":"10.1016\/S0168-6321(06)80033-7"},{"key":"ref_15","unstructured":"Goudie, A., and Middleton, N. (2006). Desert Dust in the Global System, Springer."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7781","DOI":"10.5194\/acp-11-7781-2011","article-title":"Global dust model intercomparison in AeroCom phase I","volume":"11","author":"Huneeus","year":"2011","journal-title":"Atmos. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"Masoodian, S.A. (1998). An Analysis of Tempo-Spatial Variation or Precipitation in Iran. [Ph.D. Thesis, University of Isfahan]."},{"key":"ref_18","unstructured":"Hasanean, H.M. (2021, January 30). Middle East Meteorology. Available online: https:\/\/www.eolss.net\/sample-chapters\/C01\/E6-158-19.pdf."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2050","DOI":"10.1002\/joc.4479","article-title":"Temporal variations in the frequency and concentration of dust events over Iran based on surface observations","volume":"36","author":"Ghafarian","year":"2016","journal-title":"Int. J. Climatol."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"191","DOI":"10.1007\/s12517-015-2029-7","article-title":"Spatio-temporal analysis of MODIS AOD over western part of Iran","volume":"9","author":"Namdari","year":"2016","journal-title":"Arab. J. Geosci."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"508","DOI":"10.1016\/j.apr.2018.10.002","article-title":"Analysis of spatio-temporal dust aerosol frequency over Iran based on satellite data","volume":"10","author":"Rezaei","year":"2019","journal-title":"Atmos. Pollut. Res."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Yousefi, R., Wang, F., Ge, Q., Shaheen, A., and Luterbacher, J. (2020, January 3\u20138). Long-term AOD trend analysis and classification of major aerosol types over Iran from 1980 to 2018. Proceedings of the EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts, Vienna, Austria.","DOI":"10.5194\/egusphere-egu2020-1831"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"10497","DOI":"10.5194\/acp-19-10497-2019","article-title":"Large contribution of meteorological factors to inter-decadal changes in regional aerosol optical depth","volume":"19","author":"Che","year":"2019","journal-title":"Atmos. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5063","DOI":"10.5194\/acp-16-5063-2016","article-title":"Aerosol optical depth trend over the Middle East","volume":"16","author":"Pozzer","year":"2016","journal-title":"Atmos. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5521","DOI":"10.5194\/acp-15-5521-2015","article-title":"AOD trends during 2001\u20132010 from observations and model simulations","volume":"15","author":"Pozzer","year":"2015","journal-title":"Atmos. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1739","DOI":"10.1002\/2014JD022611","article-title":"Climatic controls on the interannual to decadal variability in Saudi Arabian dust activity: Toward the development of a seasonal dust prediction model","volume":"120","author":"Yu","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_27","first-page":"428","article-title":"Feed-forward and cascade back propagation artificial neural network models for predicting aerosol optical depth in Ilorin-Nigeria","volume":"3","author":"Balarabe","year":"2019","journal-title":"FUDMA J. Sci. 2616\u20131370"},{"key":"ref_28","first-page":"22","article-title":"Estimating air particulate matter 10 using Landsat multi-temporal data and analyzing its annual temporal pattern over gaza strip, Palestine","volume":"7","author":"Shaheen","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Asian Sci. Res."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"823","DOI":"10.1007\/s00484-008-0176-1","article-title":"Relationship between African dust carried in the Atlantic trade winds and surges in pediatric asthma attendances in the Caribbean","volume":"52","author":"Prospero","year":"2008","journal-title":"Int. J. Biometeorol."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7048","DOI":"10.1016\/j.atmosenv.2007.05.006","article-title":"Dust events as a risk factor for daily hospitalization for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in Minqin, China","volume":"41","author":"Meng","year":"2007","journal-title":"Atmos. Environ."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5419","DOI":"10.1175\/JCLI-D-16-0758.1","article-title":"The modern-era retrospective analysis for research and applications, version 2 (MERRA-2)","volume":"30","author":"Gelaro","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Clim."},{"key":"ref_32","unstructured":"Suarez, M.J. (2012). The GEOS-5 atmospheric general circulation model: Mean climate and development from MERRA to Fortuna. Technical Report Series on Global Modeling and Data Assimilation, NASA."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1339","DOI":"10.5194\/gmd-8-1339-2015","article-title":"Development of the GEOS-5 atmospheric general circulation model: Evolution from MERRA to MERRA2","volume":"8","author":"Molod","year":"2015","journal-title":"Geosci. Model. Dev."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/S0034-4257(98)00031-5","article-title":"AERONET\u2014A federated instrument network and data archive for aerosol characterization","volume":"66","author":"Holben","year":"1998","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"339","DOI":"10.1016\/j.solener.2018.02.059","article-title":"Evaluation of global horizontal irradiance estimates from ERA5 and COSMO-REA6 reanalyses using ground and satellite-based data","volume":"164","author":"Urraca","year":"2018","journal-title":"Sol. Energy"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"322","DOI":"10.1016\/j.renene.2018.03.056","article-title":"ERA5: The new champion of wind power modelling?","volume":"126","author":"Olauson","year":"2018","journal-title":"Renew. Energy"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3097","DOI":"10.5194\/acp-19-3097-2019","article-title":"From ERA-Interim to ERA5: The considerable impact of ECMWF\u2019s next-generation reanalysis on Lagrangian transport simulations","volume":"19","author":"Hoffmann","year":"2019","journal-title":"Atmos. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2527","DOI":"10.5194\/hess-24-2527-2020","article-title":"Evaluation of the ERA5 reanalysis as a potential reference dataset for hydrological modelling over North America","volume":"24","author":"Tarek","year":"2020","journal-title":"Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"427","DOI":"10.5194\/hess-24-427-2020","article-title":"Cross-validating precipitation datasets in the Indus River basin","volume":"24","author":"Baudouin","year":"2020","journal-title":"Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gleixner, S., Demissie, T., and Diro, G.T. (2020). Did ERA5 Improve Temperature and Precipitation Reanalysis over East Africa?. Atmosphere, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/atmos11090996"},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1999","DOI":"10.1002\/qj.3803","article-title":"The ERA5 global reanalysis","volume":"146","author":"Hersbach","year":"2020","journal-title":"Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8097","DOI":"10.5194\/acp-18-8097-2018","article-title":"Insight into global trends in aerosol composition from 2005 to 2015 inferred from the OMI Ultraviolet Aerosol Index","volume":"18","author":"Hammer","year":"2018","journal-title":"Atmos. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shaheen, A. (2020). A New MODIS C6.1 and MERRA-2 merged aerosol products: Validation over the eastern mediterranean region. EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts, EGU2020\u2013639.","DOI":"10.5194\/egusphere-egu2020-639"},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"11031","DOI":"10.5194\/acp-19-11031-2019","article-title":"Fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) trends in China, 2013\u20132018: Separating contributions from anthropogenic emissions and meteorology","volume":"19","author":"Zhai","year":"2019","journal-title":"Atmos. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"28427","DOI":"10.1029\/2001JD900023","article-title":"Large-scale advection of continental aerosols during INDOEX","volume":"106","author":"Chazette","year":"2001","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Reid, J.S., Piketh, S.J., Walker, A.L., Burger, R.P., Ross, K.E., Westphal, D.L., Bruintjes, R.T., Holben, B.N., Hsu, C., and Jensen, T.L. (2008). An overview of UAE2 flight operations: Observations of summertime atmospheric thermodynamic and aerosol profiles of the southern Arabian Gulf. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 113.","DOI":"10.1029\/2007JD009435"},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Remer, L.A., Kleidman, R.G., Levy, R.C., Kaufman, Y.J., Tanr\u00e9, D., Mattoo, S., Martins, J.V., Ichoku, C., Koren, I., and Yu, H. (2008). Global aerosol climatology from the MODIS satellite sensors. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 113.","DOI":"10.1029\/2007JD009661"},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"205","DOI":"10.1016\/j.atmosenv.2019.03.020","article-title":"Aerosol optical depth climatology over Central Asian countries based on Aqua-MODIS Collection 6.1 data: Aerosol variations and sources","volume":"207","author":"Rupakheti","year":"2019","journal-title":"Atmos. Environ."},{"key":"ref_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6627","DOI":"10.5194\/acp-16-6627-2016","article-title":"Climatology of the aerosol optical depth by components from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) and chemistry transport models","volume":"16","author":"Lee","year":"2016","journal-title":"Atmos. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_50","first-page":"11","article-title":"The Study of Sea Level Pressure Patterns and Wind aloft Features over the Middle East and the Persian Gulf Area during Spring Transition","volume":"6","author":"Zoljoodi","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Persian Gulf"},{"key":"ref_51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"113","DOI":"10.1016\/S1364-8152(03)00114-2","article-title":"Long-term simulation of global dust distribution with the GOCART model: Correlation with North Atlantic Oscillation","volume":"19","author":"Ginoux","year":"2004","journal-title":"Environ. Model. Softw."},{"key":"ref_52","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"24026","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-9326\/8\/2\/024026","article-title":"The impact of the winter North Atlantic Oscillation on the frequency of spring dust storms over Tarim Basin in northwest China in the past half-century","volume":"8","author":"Zhao","year":"2013","journal-title":"Environ. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"249","DOI":"10.1007\/s00382-017-3602-4","article-title":"Extreme weather events in Iran under a changing climate","volume":"50","author":"Najafi","year":"2018","journal-title":"Clim. Dyn."}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/13\/6\/1045\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T05:35:53Z","timestamp":1760160953000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/13\/6\/1045"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,10]]},"references-count":53,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3]]}},"alternative-id":["rs13061045"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs13061045","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-4292","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,10]]}}}