Saadiyah Halos - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Saadiyah Halos

Research paper thumbnail of Calculating the Environmental Drought Index using the De Martonne Equation for the Rainy Months in Iraq

Research paper thumbnail of Effect of Climate Change on Spring Massive Sand/Dust Storms in Iraq

Al-Mustansiriyah Journal of Science, 2021

Sand and Dust storms are considered a major natural disaster that cause many damages to society a... more Sand and Dust storms are considered a major natural disaster that cause many damages to society and environment in Iraq and surrounded deserted regions. Two spring sand/dust storms on May in two different years were synoptically analyzed. These sand/dust storms were compared in terms of dust surface concentration from NMMB/BSC-Dust model, sea level pressure, surface wind vector, satellite vegetation index and stations rainfall. The findings of this sand/dust storms comparison indicate that Iraq in spring may be affected by two types of wind one dust storm initiated by Shamal which have long occurred in this region and caused frequent dust storms in spring and second by Al-Khamsian. Dust storm in 2012 is massive than sand/dust storm in 2018 where the highest dust surface concentration is reached to (7700 μg/m3) in 22 May 2012 and about (3100 μg/m3) in 11 May 2018. Increase in vegetation cover over Iraq in 2018 was about 23% more than in 2012. Rainfall level in season (2017-2018) was ...

Research paper thumbnail of The Vertical variations of Atmospheric Methane (CH4) concentrations over selected cities in Iraq based on AIRS data

Baghdad Science Journal, 2021

يوفر مسبار الأشعة تحت الحمراء (AIRS) المحمول على القمر الصناعي EOS / Aqua قياسات متنوعة لتوزيع ال... more يوفر مسبار الأشعة تحت الحمراء (AIRS) المحمول على القمر الصناعي EOS / Aqua قياسات متنوعة لتوزيع الميثان (CH4) عند مستويات ضغط مختلفة في الغلاف الجوي للارض. يركز هذا البحث على تحليل الاختلافات الرأسية لبيانات السلاسل الزمنية لـ (CH4) نسبة الخلط الحجمي (VMR) عند أربعة مستويات ضغط قياسية SPL (925 و 850 و 600 و 300 hPa) في طبقة التروبوسفير فوق ست مدن في العراق من كانون الثاني 2003 إلى أيلول 2016. تظهر نتائج تحليل المتوسط الشهري لبيانات السلاسل الزمنية لـ CH4VMR زيادة كبيرة بين عامي 2003 و 2016 ,وخاصة بين 2009 و2016؛ كانت القيم الادنى في عام 2003 بينما القيم الاعلى كانت في عام 2016. التوزيع الرأسي لـ (CH4) كان مرتفعا نسبيا في المدن الواقعة في شمال العراق (السليمانية والموصل) أكثر من المدن الاخرى، خاصة تلك التي في غرب العراق (الرطبة والنجف). أعلى متوسط شهري لـ CH4VMR والانحراف المعياري كان في السليمانية (1871± 21.92 ) ppbv عند 925 hPa ، بينما اقل متوسط كان في الرطبة (1812.81±37.3) ppbvعند 300 hPa . الموصل لديها ثاني أعلى متوسط وانحراف معياري بعد السليمانية ، خاصة في المستويات الدنيا SPL ...

Research paper thumbnail of Impact of PM2.5 concentration, weather and population on COVID-19 morbidity and mortality in Baghdad and Kuwait cities

Modeling Earth Systems and Environment, 2021

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a global health crisis and biggest challenge facing the wo... more The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a global health crisis and biggest challenge facing the world. Station measurements of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentration in Baghdad and Kuwait during the period January-July 2020 are analyzed as well as assessment of correlation between PM2.5, weather conditions (air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed), population density and COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. A significant improvement (decrease) has observed during total and partial curfew in PM2.5 at Baghdad by 35%, 12.4%, respectively, from PM2.5 mean during the study period that is less than the WHO recommended PM2.5 level especially in total curfew. This decrease in PM2.5 pollution and people's mobility in Baghdad at total and partial curfew contributed to decrease injuries and mortality. PM2.5 during total and partial curfew in Kuwait country witnessed increasing by 38.4% and decreasing by 22.3% from the PM2.5 mean, respectively, but still higher than WHO standard level. This increase in PM2.5 at total curfew was related to burning accidents in the oil wells which caused increasing in PM2.5 pollutant and then an increase in number of injuries and mortality during that time. In general during all study period our research found that PM2.5 and wind speed exhibit weak relation with COVID-19 morbidity and mortality but strong relation with increasing temperature and decreasing humidity. The high population density had a good association with increasing daily new cases, mortality due to COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, these factors may be taken into consideration in policy development for the control and prevention of new chains of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Research paper thumbnail of Effect of spring vegetation indices NDVI & EVI on dust storms occurrence in Iraq

THE 7TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON APPLIED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (ICAST 2019), 2019

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of vegetation indices, Normalized Difference Vege... more The aim of this study is to examine the effects of vegetation indices, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) on dust storms over Iraq in spring season during the period from 2005 to 2014. NDVI and EVI from MODIS sensor and historical dust storms for 11 stations from Iraqi Meteorological Organization and Seismology are used. The results show that the high spring cumulative sum of dust storm frequency is at Karbala and its lower value at Mosul. Dust storms frequency is decrease with increasing vegetation cover where high dust storm years was in 2008 and 2012 tend to face lower spring vegetation indices values, whereas low frequency of dust storm years 2006 and 2014 for almost selected stations are more likely to have high spring EVI and NDVI values. Barren areas (EVI and NDVI <0.1) and poor vegetation cover (EVI and NDVI <0.2) in large areas of Iraq over nearly 60% of Iraq area exist in west and south of Iraq consider one the important factors for the frequent occurrence of dust storms. NDVI shows good negative correlation with dust storms frequency than EVI, conclude that NDVI is suitable than EVI for dust storm study.

Research paper thumbnail of Detection of Increasing of Tropospheric NO2 over some Iraqi Cities by using Satellite Data

Ibn AL-Haitham Journal For Pure and Applied Sciences, 2018

This paper focus on study the variations of monthly tropospheric NO2 concentrations over three Ir... more This paper focus on study the variations of monthly tropospheric NO2 concentrations over three Iraqi cities Baghdad (33.3° N, 44.4° E), Basrah (30.56° N, 47.8° E) and Erbil (36.3° N, 44.06° E). Monthly NO2 retrievals from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) onboard Aura satellite during the period from October 2004 to March 2013 have been used. The results show a high monthly and annual NO2 concentrations at Baghdad than Basra and Erbil may be attribute to high densely populations and a high economic activity. During the whole period, Baghdad, Basrah and Erbil were exhibited an average of NO2 (8.1±2.5), (3.7±1.3) and (3.3±1.7) in unit 1015 molecules/cm2 respectively. The maximum concentration of NO2 is found in winter season in all year due to enhancement of atmospheric photochemistry. An elevated trend of NO2 concentration is found in study sites where maximum annual increase in NO2 is found at Erbil (11.53 % per year), Basrah (8.59 % per year) and Baghdad (7.42 % per y...

Research paper thumbnail of Impact of dust events on aerosol optical properties over Iraq

Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 2017

The spatial and temporal characteristics of aerosol optical properties (AOP) were analyzed in ord... more The spatial and temporal characteristics of aerosol optical properties (AOP) were analyzed in order to find out the hotspot aerosol sources over Iraq and surrounding regions. The correlation of AOP with the frequency of dust events (dust storm (DS), rising dust (RD), suspended dust (SD)) over 12 Iraqi stations is evaluated during the study period (January 2005-December 2014). The AOP: aerosol absorption optical depth (AAOD), aerosol extinction optical depth (AOD), and aerosol single scattering albedo (SSA) at 388 and 500 nm and aerosol index (AI), are derived from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on board the Aura satellite. Three wellknown spatial interpolation techniques: inverse distance weighting, radial basis function with three sub-types, and kriging with three sub-types, are examined in ArcGIS software. Statistical analysis is applied to compute the station probability of dust events and its correlation with AOP. Results showed that the spline with the lowest RMSE and MPE near zero is the optimum method for estimating AOP. The spatial mean of AAOD, AOD, and AI (SSA) have the same pattern with high (low) mean values over the south and northwest of Iraq, Kuwait, and the northeast of Saudi Arabia. The seasonal variability of AAOD and AOD over the Iraqi stations showed that high (low) values occurred during spring and summer (winter) and concluded that AAOD is a responsible component for variation in AOD. DS and RD probability is higher over stations in the middle and south of Iraq than the stations in the north. High SD probability is over Mosul, Baghdad, and Nasiriya stations. The correlation of AOP with dust events suggests that the AAOD component is more important in the study of DS than SSA and AI while AI is a good index for the study of RD and SD in the study region.

Research paper thumbnail of Impact of Dust Storm Intensity on Some Metrological Elements and Aerosol Optical Properties (Case Study: Baghdad, Iraq)

British Journal of Applied Science & Technology, 2016

Based on diurnal horizontal visibility and wind speed, three dust storms types and non-dusty days... more Based on diurnal horizontal visibility and wind speed, three dust storms types and non-dusty days are identified in spring and summer seasons during 2005-2013 for Baghdad city to evaluate the impact of dust storm (DS) intensity on some meteorological elements and aerosol optical properties (AOP). The frequency of westerly and northwesterly winds increases significantly in three DS type days. The mean air temperature have (lower/higher) values in DS days during the (day/night) than non-dusty days while the relative humidity values have opposite phase. The maximum difference in air temperature and relative humidity in dusty days from its values in non-dusty days is higher in severe DS than in moderate and light DS at night time. The solar radiation has very good correlations with dust particles during the daytime where the high percentage of reduction of solar radiation in severe DS is about (45%) while reductions is about 32% in moderate DS and 23% in light DS. The variations in AOP are proportional to intensity of the DS. Increase in aerosol absorption optical depth (AAOD), aerosol extinction optical depth (AOD) at 388 nm and 500 nm Original Research Article

Research paper thumbnail of Calculating the Environmental Drought Index using the De Martonne Equation for the Rainy Months in Iraq

Research paper thumbnail of Effect of Climate Change on Spring Massive Sand/Dust Storms in Iraq

Al-Mustansiriyah Journal of Science, 2021

Sand and Dust storms are considered a major natural disaster that cause many damages to society a... more Sand and Dust storms are considered a major natural disaster that cause many damages to society and environment in Iraq and surrounded deserted regions. Two spring sand/dust storms on May in two different years were synoptically analyzed. These sand/dust storms were compared in terms of dust surface concentration from NMMB/BSC-Dust model, sea level pressure, surface wind vector, satellite vegetation index and stations rainfall. The findings of this sand/dust storms comparison indicate that Iraq in spring may be affected by two types of wind one dust storm initiated by Shamal which have long occurred in this region and caused frequent dust storms in spring and second by Al-Khamsian. Dust storm in 2012 is massive than sand/dust storm in 2018 where the highest dust surface concentration is reached to (7700 μg/m3) in 22 May 2012 and about (3100 μg/m3) in 11 May 2018. Increase in vegetation cover over Iraq in 2018 was about 23% more than in 2012. Rainfall level in season (2017-2018) was ...

Research paper thumbnail of The Vertical variations of Atmospheric Methane (CH4) concentrations over selected cities in Iraq based on AIRS data

Baghdad Science Journal, 2021

يوفر مسبار الأشعة تحت الحمراء (AIRS) المحمول على القمر الصناعي EOS / Aqua قياسات متنوعة لتوزيع ال... more يوفر مسبار الأشعة تحت الحمراء (AIRS) المحمول على القمر الصناعي EOS / Aqua قياسات متنوعة لتوزيع الميثان (CH4) عند مستويات ضغط مختلفة في الغلاف الجوي للارض. يركز هذا البحث على تحليل الاختلافات الرأسية لبيانات السلاسل الزمنية لـ (CH4) نسبة الخلط الحجمي (VMR) عند أربعة مستويات ضغط قياسية SPL (925 و 850 و 600 و 300 hPa) في طبقة التروبوسفير فوق ست مدن في العراق من كانون الثاني 2003 إلى أيلول 2016. تظهر نتائج تحليل المتوسط الشهري لبيانات السلاسل الزمنية لـ CH4VMR زيادة كبيرة بين عامي 2003 و 2016 ,وخاصة بين 2009 و2016؛ كانت القيم الادنى في عام 2003 بينما القيم الاعلى كانت في عام 2016. التوزيع الرأسي لـ (CH4) كان مرتفعا نسبيا في المدن الواقعة في شمال العراق (السليمانية والموصل) أكثر من المدن الاخرى، خاصة تلك التي في غرب العراق (الرطبة والنجف). أعلى متوسط شهري لـ CH4VMR والانحراف المعياري كان في السليمانية (1871± 21.92 ) ppbv عند 925 hPa ، بينما اقل متوسط كان في الرطبة (1812.81±37.3) ppbvعند 300 hPa . الموصل لديها ثاني أعلى متوسط وانحراف معياري بعد السليمانية ، خاصة في المستويات الدنيا SPL ...

Research paper thumbnail of Impact of PM2.5 concentration, weather and population on COVID-19 morbidity and mortality in Baghdad and Kuwait cities

Modeling Earth Systems and Environment, 2021

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a global health crisis and biggest challenge facing the wo... more The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a global health crisis and biggest challenge facing the world. Station measurements of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentration in Baghdad and Kuwait during the period January-July 2020 are analyzed as well as assessment of correlation between PM2.5, weather conditions (air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed), population density and COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. A significant improvement (decrease) has observed during total and partial curfew in PM2.5 at Baghdad by 35%, 12.4%, respectively, from PM2.5 mean during the study period that is less than the WHO recommended PM2.5 level especially in total curfew. This decrease in PM2.5 pollution and people's mobility in Baghdad at total and partial curfew contributed to decrease injuries and mortality. PM2.5 during total and partial curfew in Kuwait country witnessed increasing by 38.4% and decreasing by 22.3% from the PM2.5 mean, respectively, but still higher than WHO standard level. This increase in PM2.5 at total curfew was related to burning accidents in the oil wells which caused increasing in PM2.5 pollutant and then an increase in number of injuries and mortality during that time. In general during all study period our research found that PM2.5 and wind speed exhibit weak relation with COVID-19 morbidity and mortality but strong relation with increasing temperature and decreasing humidity. The high population density had a good association with increasing daily new cases, mortality due to COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, these factors may be taken into consideration in policy development for the control and prevention of new chains of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Research paper thumbnail of Effect of spring vegetation indices NDVI & EVI on dust storms occurrence in Iraq

THE 7TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON APPLIED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (ICAST 2019), 2019

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of vegetation indices, Normalized Difference Vege... more The aim of this study is to examine the effects of vegetation indices, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) on dust storms over Iraq in spring season during the period from 2005 to 2014. NDVI and EVI from MODIS sensor and historical dust storms for 11 stations from Iraqi Meteorological Organization and Seismology are used. The results show that the high spring cumulative sum of dust storm frequency is at Karbala and its lower value at Mosul. Dust storms frequency is decrease with increasing vegetation cover where high dust storm years was in 2008 and 2012 tend to face lower spring vegetation indices values, whereas low frequency of dust storm years 2006 and 2014 for almost selected stations are more likely to have high spring EVI and NDVI values. Barren areas (EVI and NDVI <0.1) and poor vegetation cover (EVI and NDVI <0.2) in large areas of Iraq over nearly 60% of Iraq area exist in west and south of Iraq consider one the important factors for the frequent occurrence of dust storms. NDVI shows good negative correlation with dust storms frequency than EVI, conclude that NDVI is suitable than EVI for dust storm study.

Research paper thumbnail of Detection of Increasing of Tropospheric NO2 over some Iraqi Cities by using Satellite Data

Ibn AL-Haitham Journal For Pure and Applied Sciences, 2018

This paper focus on study the variations of monthly tropospheric NO2 concentrations over three Ir... more This paper focus on study the variations of monthly tropospheric NO2 concentrations over three Iraqi cities Baghdad (33.3° N, 44.4° E), Basrah (30.56° N, 47.8° E) and Erbil (36.3° N, 44.06° E). Monthly NO2 retrievals from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) onboard Aura satellite during the period from October 2004 to March 2013 have been used. The results show a high monthly and annual NO2 concentrations at Baghdad than Basra and Erbil may be attribute to high densely populations and a high economic activity. During the whole period, Baghdad, Basrah and Erbil were exhibited an average of NO2 (8.1±2.5), (3.7±1.3) and (3.3±1.7) in unit 1015 molecules/cm2 respectively. The maximum concentration of NO2 is found in winter season in all year due to enhancement of atmospheric photochemistry. An elevated trend of NO2 concentration is found in study sites where maximum annual increase in NO2 is found at Erbil (11.53 % per year), Basrah (8.59 % per year) and Baghdad (7.42 % per y...

Research paper thumbnail of Impact of dust events on aerosol optical properties over Iraq

Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 2017

The spatial and temporal characteristics of aerosol optical properties (AOP) were analyzed in ord... more The spatial and temporal characteristics of aerosol optical properties (AOP) were analyzed in order to find out the hotspot aerosol sources over Iraq and surrounding regions. The correlation of AOP with the frequency of dust events (dust storm (DS), rising dust (RD), suspended dust (SD)) over 12 Iraqi stations is evaluated during the study period (January 2005-December 2014). The AOP: aerosol absorption optical depth (AAOD), aerosol extinction optical depth (AOD), and aerosol single scattering albedo (SSA) at 388 and 500 nm and aerosol index (AI), are derived from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on board the Aura satellite. Three wellknown spatial interpolation techniques: inverse distance weighting, radial basis function with three sub-types, and kriging with three sub-types, are examined in ArcGIS software. Statistical analysis is applied to compute the station probability of dust events and its correlation with AOP. Results showed that the spline with the lowest RMSE and MPE near zero is the optimum method for estimating AOP. The spatial mean of AAOD, AOD, and AI (SSA) have the same pattern with high (low) mean values over the south and northwest of Iraq, Kuwait, and the northeast of Saudi Arabia. The seasonal variability of AAOD and AOD over the Iraqi stations showed that high (low) values occurred during spring and summer (winter) and concluded that AAOD is a responsible component for variation in AOD. DS and RD probability is higher over stations in the middle and south of Iraq than the stations in the north. High SD probability is over Mosul, Baghdad, and Nasiriya stations. The correlation of AOP with dust events suggests that the AAOD component is more important in the study of DS than SSA and AI while AI is a good index for the study of RD and SD in the study region.

Research paper thumbnail of Impact of Dust Storm Intensity on Some Metrological Elements and Aerosol Optical Properties (Case Study: Baghdad, Iraq)

British Journal of Applied Science & Technology, 2016

Based on diurnal horizontal visibility and wind speed, three dust storms types and non-dusty days... more Based on diurnal horizontal visibility and wind speed, three dust storms types and non-dusty days are identified in spring and summer seasons during 2005-2013 for Baghdad city to evaluate the impact of dust storm (DS) intensity on some meteorological elements and aerosol optical properties (AOP). The frequency of westerly and northwesterly winds increases significantly in three DS type days. The mean air temperature have (lower/higher) values in DS days during the (day/night) than non-dusty days while the relative humidity values have opposite phase. The maximum difference in air temperature and relative humidity in dusty days from its values in non-dusty days is higher in severe DS than in moderate and light DS at night time. The solar radiation has very good correlations with dust particles during the daytime where the high percentage of reduction of solar radiation in severe DS is about (45%) while reductions is about 32% in moderate DS and 23% in light DS. The variations in AOP are proportional to intensity of the DS. Increase in aerosol absorption optical depth (AAOD), aerosol extinction optical depth (AOD) at 388 nm and 500 nm Original Research Article