The vast expanse of the Gobi desert across the Mongolian plateau experiencesfrequent dust storms. In this isolated region remote sensing techniques canprovide an effective measurement of dust storms. Brightness temperaturechannels 4, 5 of AVHRR/NOAA satellite data, emissive bands of MODIS/TERRA satellite data and meteorological station measurement data were usedand tested for dust and sandstorm mapping in the desert area of Mongolia andnorthern China. The differences between thermal bands in combination withgeographic information system (GIS) layers were used for mapping in this study.The results show that dust and sand storm maps can be achieved from emissivebands for monitoring of dust and sandstorms. Most active dust storm sources canoccur in truly remote areas where there is little or no human activity, althoughmany sources are associated with areas where human impacts are welldocumented. Thus, on a regional scale dust mobilisation appears to be dominatedby natural sources.
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