Parya Boroumandi - Chemical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology, 424 Hafez Ave, Tehran, Iran
Bahram Dabir - Chemical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology, 424 Hafez Ave, Tehran, Iran
Yousef Rashidi - Environmental Sciences Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
Hamed Sharifi - Research Institute of Petroleum Industry (RIPI), West Blvd. Azadi Sport Complex, Tehran, Iran

Long-range transport of dust aerosol has intense impacts on the atmospheric environment over wide areas. In this study, the features of an intense dust storm and its transport characteristics were studied during the period of June 7th to June 9th 2010 in Ahvaz city. Temporal and spatial distribution of Middle Eastern dust for an intense dust storm event over Ahvaz city was analyzed by models of HYSPLIT and WRF/Chem, and in- situ observations. Using HYSPLIT results, the dust particles are mainly transported from north western region of Iraq and eastern Syria to downward areas including Ahvaz city during the studied period. Dust aerosols arrived at Daneshgah station in Ahvaz city, mixed with local anthropogenic emissions, led to the highest PM10 concentration of 4200 ppm. The dust particles (fourth bin) with remarkable concentration affected the air quality of Ahvaz city. The model results were found to well reproduce temporal and spatial distribution of mineral dust concentrations according to in-situ measurements of PM10 at Daneshgah station. The performance of WRF/Chem was acceptable for simulation of temporal and spatial distributions of dust storm events along affected area during simulated period

Particulate matter; Dust storm; HYSPLIT; WRF/Chem