Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Atmospheric Dust Sources on the Southern High Plains and Eastern New Mexico Using Modis Imagery from 2001 to 2009

The Southern High Plains of Texas and eastern New Mexico are one of the major sources of dust in North America. Using MODIS satellite imagery, this study has identified locations, climatic factors and landform characteristics for 676 dust plumes from 2000 to 2009. Meteorological data were used to model an index of potential erosion (Ew) over a 37 county area. The analyses show that blowing dust is not uniform over the source area region. The Ew index did not correlate with the frequency of dust sources and explains less than 10% of dust occurrence in the study area, suggesting that annual climate variations did not affect dust sources. However, there is a strong relationship between dust sources and geology. Almost 80% of all dust sources occurred on landforms composed of Quaternary aeolian sand sheets. Furthermore, farmlands within these flat and sandy land areas tend to produce the majority of the dust sources since soil cultivation reduces vegetation cover and soil resistance to wind erosion. Within the Southern High Plains region, climate variables are not the major factor controlling the spatial patterns of dust emission over a 10 year period of observation, wind only provides the energy that drives the process. However, atmospheric dust sources are strongly correlated with the presence of flat plains, sandy soils (i.e., aolian sand sheets and playas), and agricultural lands in the Southern High Plains