Monitoring dust storm using Normalized difference dust index (NDDI) and brightness temperature variation in Simi arid areas over Iraq

Dust storms are a natural phenomenon occurring in most areas of Iraq. In recent years, the study of this phenomenon has become important because of the danger caused by increasing desertification at the expense of the green cover as well as its impact on human health. In this study  is important to devote the remote sensing of dust storms and its detection.Through this research, the dust storms can be detected in semi-arid areas, which are difficult to distinguish between these storms and desert areas. For the distinction between the dust storm pixels in the image with those that do not contain dust storm can be applied the Normalized Difference Dust Index (NDDI) and Brightness Temperature variation (BTV). MODIS sensors that carried by theTerra and Equa satellite images have been used in different bands and different resolution and the cases studied in 1/9/2015,16/6/2016/20/2/2016.