In the past six weeks, there have been at least eight strong dust storms in Iraq, darkening the sky and making people sick Since early April 2022, Iraq and other countries in the Middle East have been hit by a series of severe sandstorms. Thousands of people have been taken to hospitals because of two severe storms in the past two weeks, because poor air quality caused by dust in the air may worsen asthma and other respiratory diseases.
May 16, 2022
As visibility dropped to a few hundred meters, the sky in Baghdad, Najaf, Sulaymaniyah and other Iraqi cities turned orange. During the severe dust storm, several airports were closed and schools across Iraq were closed. Government offices in seven of Iraq's 18 provinces were closed and several governors declared a state of emergency.
The natural color images in this paper were obtained by the moderate resolution imaging spectrometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA's Terra and aqua satellites. The picture above was taken by aqua MODIS on May 16, 2022, while the picture below was taken by Terra MODIS on May 5.
May 5, 2022
The sandstorm weather in Iraq is most common in late spring and summer, which is aroused by seasonal winds, such as "shamal" blowing from the northwest. A [paper] by researchers in 2016( https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2015JD024063 ) It is proposed that La Nina conditions in the equatorial Pacific can lead to the early emergence of "shamal" wind. Recent observations suggest that La Nina may continue for the third consecutive year.
These strong seasonal winds blow through abundant dust sources. According to the world bank, northern Iraq - between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers - has the densest source of dust in the Middle East.
News media reported that Iraq had suffered at least eight large-scale sandstorms in the past six weeks. Researchers have found that dust incidents in Iraq have become more frequent. The country has been facing drought in recent years, as well as changes in land use and overuse, which means that more loose soil can be thrown into the atmosphere. Iraq will be listed as one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change and desertification in the world bank.