Journal of Spatial Analysis

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Dust storms rank among the most significant natural hazards in the world’s arid and semi-arid regions, inflicting irreparable damage across multiple sectors each year. Given the rising frequency of dust storms in Kerman Province and other desert and arid areas of Iran, it is imperative to undertake a study aimed at identifying the synoptic patterns that precipitate dust events and at determining their source regions as well as their transport and dispersion pathways. In this research, the conditions and origins of dust storm formation over the 2000–2023 period were examined using synoptic and remote-sensing methods. The HYSPLIT model was applied to track airflow trajectories, and factor analysis together with cluster analysis were used to identify the synoptic patterns responsible for dust generation. Finally, the principal source regions of dust were delineated.
The results revealed that 63% of the province’s dust storms originate from domestic sources, whereas 37% originate from other areas. Three main atmospheric patterns were identified as drivers of dust activity in Kerman Province:
1. The co-advection of simultaneous low-pressure and high-pressure systems;
2. A lower-tropospheric cutoff low pressure in conjunction with the Siberian high;
3. A pressure-gradient regime featuring a core of elevated wind speeds.
Modeling of transport and dispersion pathways indicated that 60% of externally sourced dust is advected from the Arabian Peninsula, while 55% of dust emitted disperses southward, impacting the Makran coast and the Sea of Oman. Analysis of source regions further showed that the desert areas of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, and Jordan, as well as those of North Africa, together with internal sources such as the dried Jazmourian wetland, the Lut Desert, the Hamun region, and the Tabas Desert, contribute most substantially to the dust events observed in Kerman Province.
 

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Objective: “This study aims to investigate the drivers of ecological rupture in the Sultanieh Grassland, one of Iran’s most valuable natural ecosystems, which has experienced severe degradation over the past two decades. The research seeks to identify and prioritize the relative contributions of climatic, hydrological, and anthropogenic factors in triggering systemic instability and to assess whether the ecosystem has crossed a critical threshold toward irreversible collapse.
Methods: An integrated analytical framework was employed, combining multi-source datasets from 2000 to 2021. Remote sensing indicators—including the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Land Surface Temperature (LST), and Soil Moisture (SM)—were derived from MODIS and Landsat imagery. Hydroclimatic time series (temperature, precipitation, potential evapotranspiration [PET], and groundwater levels) were analyzed alongside demographic statistics and land use/land cover (LULC) changes. A multi-criteria weighting approach, grounded in catastrophe theory, was applied to objectively quantify the relative influence of key drivers while minimizing subjective bias in decision-making.
Results: The analysis reveals a 15% decline in effective precipitation, a 1°C increase in mean annual temperature, and a groundwater table drop exceeding 30 meters over the study period. These environmental stresses were compounded by a fourfold population growth and a doubling of per capita water consumption. Consequently, vegetation cover declined persistently, with NDVI decreasing from 0.2817 in 2004 to 0.1701 in 2021, while barren lands expanded significantly. Within the catastrophe theory framework, three primary drivers—groundwater depletion, vegetation loss, and population–water pressure—were identified as collectively responsible for 50% of the system’s destabilization. The evidence confirms a transition from a stable ecological state to a dissipative, degraded phase.
Conclusions: The Sultanieh Grassland has likely crossed a critical ecological threshold due to the synergistic intensification of anthropogenic and climatic pressures within a geomorphologically and hydrologically vulnerable setting. Without immediate intervention—including sustainable groundwater management, strict control of urban expansion, and active restoration of hydrological equilibrium—the ecosystem faces irreversible transformation into an active source of dust emissions and desertification. This study underscores the urgency of science-based policy actions to prevent the total collapse of this irreplaceable natural and cultural heritage site.

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Land use is one of the most important aspects of studying natural resources management and reviewing environmental changes, and studying it is also very important in understanding the microclimate of urban areas. Therefore, according to the importance of the topic in this research, the spatial pattern of land use changes and surface temperature in Bukan city in the statistical period of 1990-2020 using Landsat satellite images and sensors (OLI-TIRS, ETM+, TM) and the separate window algorithm. was evaluated. The results showed that the land use of the area has changed a lot during the period under review, so that the residential use has increased and the agricultural use has decreased. The results of the survey of the earth's surface temperature also showed that in 1990, the highest temperature was related to pasture areas and barren lands with a temperature between 32 and 40 degrees Celsius and the lowest temperature was related to areas with dense vegetation with a temperature between 15 and 20 degrees. It is Celsius. The temperature in residential and urban areas varies between 28 and 31 degrees Celsius. In 2020, the average temperature of pasture use was 35 degrees Celsius, residential use was 30 degrees Celsius, and garden and agricultural land was 14 and 24 degrees Celsius, which, apart from pasture use, which did not change significantly, other studied uses increased. They show a temperature of 2 to 4 degrees Celsius compared to 1990. The examination of the temperature in relation to the land use changes showed that there is a high correlation between the land cover and the surface temperature of the land, so that in some of the sampled places, it showed that the change in the use of gardens Residential use or pasture has caused an increase of 15 to 20 degrees Celsius in the temperature of the earth's surface in these areas. Based on the results of land use and overall vegetation, it has an indirect and strong relationship with the surface temperature of the earth, and with the increase in the area of residential and barren lands and the decrease of vegetation and agricultural lands, the surface temperature of the earth will increase.