Application of Geostationary Satellite Observations for Monitoring Dust Storms of Asia

In this study, data provided by the geostationary satellite GMS-5 S-VISSR was used to monitor dust storms. Although other satellites, such as TOMS, provide information regarding dust cover and air quality over specific locations, their limited orbital observation time makes it hard to issue real-time warnings for dust storms. Since geostationary satellites are capable of providing hourly observations, they offer a higher temporal resolution. Both infrared channels of GMS-5 were used in this study to mitigate misdetections of neighboring dust cloud cluster regions. The accuracy of the results obtained, using this method, demonstrated that this mode of observation has practical applications, for monitoring dust storm events, which warrant further investigation. An automatic operation system was also successfully constructed for dust storm monitoring, from GMS data. Quantitative analysis indicated a high possibility for accurate intensity levels of dust storms from GMS-5 data and a positive potential for dust storm warning and forecasting, from this data. Nonetheless, more cases should be investigated to test actual applications for this method. (