Identifying dust-emitting geomorphic units in lower Mesopotamia and Kuwait using multi-high-resolution satellite and wind data

The lower Mesopotamia and Kuwait exposed to human pressures and environmental changes and described as one of the main natural sources of dust worldwide, influencing nearby cities. The challenges of undertaking field studies in the region, due to access difficulty and source location uncertainty, have hindered identification of the specific geomorphic units that act as significant dust sources. The capability of high-resolution satellite data to pinpoint small-scale dust-emitting units now enables precise surface identification, which is crucial for understanding the spatial variability and controls on dust emissions. Launching Sentinel 2 A-B in 2015 and 2017 and Landsat 7–9 in 1999, 2013 and 2021 means the possibility of systematic high-resolution monitoring every 3–4 days at 10–15 m 2 (pixel size), is now possible. This paper aims to identify dust-emitting units in lower Mesopotamia and Kuwait (2013−2023) within a regional context, based on a systematic analysis of I) MODIS\VIIRS data associated with wind data to identify the regional dust sources and dynamics, II) Sentinel-2\Landsat 7–9 data to pinpoint the exact dust sources and their geomorphic units, and III) MODIS Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) to identify the relative magnitude of dust emission from each identified unit. The dominant dust-emitting geomorphic units, primarily located in southern Mesopotamia and along the northern coastline of Kuwait, include inland sabkhas and barchan sand dunes in Al-Batha, generating 62% (number of events = 446) of dust events, the intertidal zone of Subiya (11%, n = 76), coastal sabkhas and muddy flats in Bubiyan Island (10%, n = 68), the estuarine environment of Al-Faw (9%, n = 61). These units, many with crusted or moisture-affected surfaces, were previously generalized or overlooked in regional assessments. Seasonal trends indicate that dust emissions peak in June and July, driven by prevailing wind speeds exceeding 6.5 m/s and AOD values reaching up to 0.6. Collectively, these units cover approximately 2.5% ( 2743 k m 2 ) of the total research region (111,042 K m 2 ) and amounted to about 651 dust events over 11 years, offering a more refined and spatially explicit understanding of dust sources at high spatio-temporal resolution.