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Determination of dust loading in the atmosphere is important not only from the public health point of view, but also for regional climate changes. The present study focuses on the characteristics of two major dust events for two urban areas in Iran, Kermanshah and Tehran, over the period of 4 years from 2006 to 2009. To detect extreme dust outbreaks, various datasets including synoptic data, dust concentration, reanalysis data and numerical results of WRF and HYSPLIT models were used. The weather maps demonstrate that for these events dusts are mainly generated when wind velocity is high and humidity is low in the lower troposphere and the region is under the influence of a thermal low. The event lasts until the atmospheric stability prevails and the surface wind speed weakens. The thermal low nature of the synoptic conditions of these major events is also responsible for deep boundary layer development with its thermals affecting the vertical dust flux over the region. Trajectory studies show that the dust events originated from deserts in Iraq and Syria and transported towards Iran. The main distinction between the two types of mobilizations seems to affect the dust concentrations in the Tehran urban area.

Considering the diversity of rip currents based on the classification of Castelle et al. (2016), it is crucial to study the characteristics of each individual rip current type, which are classified based on different dominant controlling forces and physical driving mechanisms. In this study, an analytical model was presented to predict the spacing of channel rip currents $$(S_{\mathrm{rip}})$$ in intermediate beaches using the equations of continuity and momentum. Then, the analytical model predictions were compared with the results of numerical simulations calibrated with field studies of other researchers, that showed good agreements. The main results of this study showed that rip spacing was simultaneously related to the characteristics of wave and bed in the surf zone. In addition, it was shown that due to inevitable changes of the hydrodynamic and morphological conditions of rip channel in the beach, the parameter $$H_{b0}/h_{c}$$ (where $$H_{b0}$$ is the wave height before approaching the sand bar and $$h_{c}$$ is channel depth) is an important factor in predicting the rip current situation and the changes of the beach state with time.

Solar irradiance is attenuated spectrally when passing through the earth’s atmosphere and it is strongly dependent on sky conditions, cleanliness of the atmosphere, composition of aerosols and gaseous constituents. In this paper, aerosol optical properties including aerosol optical depth (AOD), Angstrom exponent (α) and Angstrom turbidity coefficient (β) have been investigated during December 2009 to October 2010, in a suburban area of Zanjan (36°N, 43°E, 1700 m), in the north–west of Iran, using meteorological and sun photometric data. Results show that turbidity varies on all time scales, from the seasonal to hourly, because of changes in the atmospheric meteorological parameters. The values of α range from near zero to 1.67. The diurnal variation of AOD in Zanjan is about 15%. The diurnal variability of AOD, showed a similar variation pattern in spring (including March, April, May) and winter (December, January, February) and had a different variation pattern in summer (June, July, August) and autumn (September and October). During February, spring and early summer winds transport continental aerosols mostly from the Iraq (dust events) and cause the increase of beta and turbidity of atmosphere of Zanjan.

Air pollution predictions often require the height of atmospheric mixed layer in time especially in big cities. Here, the variation of the height of this layer is estimated from direct measurements and also from a numerical forecast model with a high resolution boundary layer scheme. The height of the daytime mixed layer for the city of Zanjan (48.5°N, 36.7°E, 1700m above sea level) is measured using a LIDAR (532 nm) system, which works based on aerosols scattering of laser light. The mixed layer height (z i ) for Zanjan city, well above mean sea level compared to other major cities in the world, is found to be between 1.4 km typically in spring and 2.2 km in summer, for synoptic calm conditions. Also, the MM5 forecast model with a proper boundary layer scheme (MRF) is used to estimate z i which shows rather good agreement with direct observations using the LIDAR system. The entrainment zone of the mixed layer was also found to undergo some occasional temporal growth that may be attributed to shear instability that led to more mixed layer growth.