Dust in Western Iran: the emergence of new sources in response to shrinking water bodies.

We detected sources of dust in the Middle East that contribute to dust events in Western Iran in different seasons. By the analysis of the synoptic data, we identified 309 dusty days in Western Iran during the period 2000-2016. A dusty day is diagnosed if under low horizontal visibility (< 1 km), the dust in suspension is reported at least once a day in at least three synoptic stations.