The physical characteristics of the Earth’s surface play an important role in controlling the velocity of the wind erosion threshold.
Therefore, to reduce the risks of dust storms, it is necessary to determine the impact of changes in this characteristic on wind
erosion events in different regions. In this regard, this study was carried out to examine the effects of soil moisture (SM), land
surface temperature (LST), and vegetation cover (VC) on wind erosion phenomenon using a combination of satellite data and
terrestrial observations from 2010 to 2018. In this work, the dust storm index (DSI) was selected to monitor the wind erosion
across the country. The multivariate regression method was utilized to explore the effect of alterations in these parameters on
changes in soil erosion at both local and regional scales in Iran. In the local scale, regression coefficients between LST-DSI, SMDSI, and VC-DSI were estimated in the range of 0.002 to 0.77, −0.029 to −0.51, and − 0.001 to −0.82, respectively. On the
regional scale, alterations in the LST and EVI could show about 40% of changes in the wind erosion activity over arid regions of
Iran (R2 = 0.43; P value < 0.05). Our results also exhibited that the relative importance of the vegetation cover was greater than
LST and SM in these areas (β2
EVI = 0.17 > β2
LST = 0.15). In semi-arid regions, 36% of changes in DSI was due to alterations in
LST and SM (R2 = 0.36; P value < 0.05). The relative importance of LST was approximately 1.7 times that of SM in this region of
Iran (β2
LST/β2
SM = 1.73). However, it was revealed that changes in the physical properties of the land surface had no significant
effect on dust emissions over the temperate and continental regions of Iran (R2 < 0.16; P value > 0.05). These results can be used
by planners and managers to develop programs to combat wind erosion and reduce the risks posed by dust storms in arid and
semi-arid regions of Iran.