The effect of drought in the source area of dust storms on vegetation change (case study: western parts of Iran)

Water scarcity is one of the factors limiting plant growth and development. More than one third of the global terrestrial ecosystems is located in arid and semi-arid regions. The most important limiting factor for plant growth is water shortage. Drought could significantly change the natural vegetation cover. Rainfall reduction in Iraq, Turkey and Syria has reduced vegetation cover so that dust storms have increased. Therefore, these areas have a high potential to increase dust particles in the environment. To investigate the temporal changes of vegetation, we focused on the source of dust particles between Tigris and Euphrates rivers and some parts of the west bank of these rivers in Iraq. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was used. In addition, the standard precipitation index was calculated to assess drought events in the region. The results show that the vegetation and rainfall indexes are inversely correlated in the study area.