A Robust Satellite Technique (RST) for dust storm detection and monitoring: The case of 2009 Australian event

In this paper, an original method of satellite data analysis named RST (Robust Satellite Technique), already successfully used to study and monitor several natural and environmental hazards, is applied for the first time to a recent dust storm occurred in Australia in September 2009. This event was analyzed implementing RST on MTSAT-1R (Multi-functional Transport Satellite-1Replacement) Japanese geostationary satellite data. Some preliminary results of this study are presented, discussing RST performances even in comparison with traditional split window satellite techniques.