Desiccating Lake Urmia: A New Dust Source of Regional Importance

Boroughani, Mahdi; Hashemi, Hossein; Hosseini, Seyyed Hasan; Pourhashemi, Sima; Berndtsson, Ronny

doi:10.1109/lgrs.2019.2949132

Cited by 43 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…In semi-arid and arid regions across the world, saline lakes have been disappearing at an alarming rate in recent decades as a result of environmental change and unsustainable exploitation of water sources [5][6][7], leading to the emergence of a new type of dust source in these regions, especially in the arid regions. Many lake basins, such as Ebinur Lake in the northwest of the Junggar Basin [8,9], the Aral Sea in arid central Asia [10][11][12], Urmia Lake and Hamoun Lake in Iran [13,14], Chad Lake in north Africa [15,16], Eyre Lake in south Australia [17], Owens Lake in America [18], and Mar Chiquita Lake in Argentina [19,20], are facing severe and rapid desertification processes and severe dust and sand storms [21]. The newly exposed dry lakebeds have become a substantial source of fine dust and saltdust [22], long-range transport of which will harm animals and plants and also pose a great threat to the eco-environment in downwind areas regionally [23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ebinur Lake in the northwest of the Junggar Basin [8,9], the Aral Sea in arid central Asia [10][11][12], Urmia Lake and Hamoun Lake in Iran [13,14], Chad Lake in north Africa [15,16], Eyre Lake in south Australia [17], Owens Lake in America [18], and Mar Chiquita Lake in Argentina [19,20], are facing severe and rapid desertification processes and severe dust and sand storms [21]. The newly exposed dry lakebeds have become a substantial source of fine dust and salt-dust [22], long-range transport of which will harm animals and plants and also pose a great threat to the eco-environment in downwind areas regionally [23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Insights into Variations and Potential Long-Range Transport of Atmospheric Aerosols from the Aral Sea Basin in Central Asia

Abuduwaili

et al. 2022

Remote Sensing

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The dramatic shrinkage of the Aral Sea in the past decades has inevitably led to an environmental calamity. Existing knowledge on the variations and potential transport of atmospheric aerosols from the Aral Sea Basin (ASB) is limited. To bridge this knowledge gap, this study tried to identify the variations and long-range transport of atmospheric aerosols from the ASB in recent years. The Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model and Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) data were used to gain new insight into the types, variation and long-range transport of atmospheric aerosols from the ASB. The results showed five types of tropospheric aerosols and one type of stratospheric aerosol were observed over the ASB. Polluted dust and dust were the dominant subtypes through the year. Sulfate/other was the only stratospheric aerosol detected. The occurrence frequency of aerosols over the ASB showed obvious seasonal variation. Maximum occurrence frequency of dust appeared in spring (MAM) and that of polluted dust peaked in summer (JJA). The monthly occurrence frequency of dust and polluted dust exhibited unimodal distribution. Polluted dust and dust were distributed over wide ranges from 1 km to 5 km vertically. The multi-year average thickness of polluted dust and dust layers was around 1.3 km. Their potential long-range transport in different directions mainly impacts Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and eastern Iran, and may reach as far as the Caucasus region, part of China, Mongolia and Russia. Combining aerosol lidar, atmospheric climate models and geochemical methods is strongly suggested to gain clarity on the variations and long-range transport of atmospheric aerosols from the Aral Sea Basin.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insights into Variations and Potential Long-Range Transport of Atmospheric Aerosols from the Aral Sea Basin in Central Asia

Abuduwaili

et al. 2022

Remote Sensing

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“…2 for examples), might be of high vulnerability to wind erosion. Studies have also shown that the intensity of dust storms over the LU and nearby cities have increased (Gholampour et al, 2015;Sotoudeheian et al, 2016;Boroughani et al, 2019;Ahmady-Birgani et al, 2020). Ahmady-Birgani et al (2020) demonstrated that areas impacted by aerosols emitted from LU bed can extend to 40 km from its shoreline.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement report: The Urmia playa as a source of airborne dust and ice-nucleating particles – Part 1: Correlation between soils and airborne samples

et al. 2022

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Abstract. The emergence of desiccated lake bed sediments and their exposure to wind erosion as a consequence of climate change and drought in arid and semiarid regions of the world poses a growing hazard. Airborne dust originating from such soils can create health and environmental issues due to their high salt content and the presence of toxic elements. The aim of the present study is twofold, namely to investigate the newly emerged playa surfaces of western Lake Urmia (LU) in Iran and their contribution to aerosol in the region by means of physicochemical, mineralogical, and elemental analyses and to study the ice nucleation (IN) activity of both surface-collected soil and airborne dust samples. The playa surfaces created by desiccation of LU on the western shores were mapped and sampled at 130 locations. Soil samples were subjected to physicochemical analyses, and their erodible fraction was determined. Based on these analyses, four highly erodible playa surfaces from the northwest to the south of LU were selected as sites for collection of dust by impaction and soil samples from the uppermost surface. Their particle physicochemical properties (size distribution, elemental and mineralogical composition) were compared with their IN activity determined by emulsion freezing experiments in a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) in two suspension concentrations of 2 wt % and 5 wt %. The physicochemical soil properties differed significantly between the different playa surfaces, which affects their susceptibility to wind erosion. Sand sheets and sandy salt crusts were the most erodible playa surfaces due to their high sand fraction and low organic matter and clay content, favouring the presence of small aggregates. Mineralogical analyses document the prevalence of quartz, carbonates, and clay minerals, such as kaolinite, palygorskite, and chlorite in all of the samples. The predominant elements in the samples are Ca, Fe, Al, Si, and Na (and in some cases Ba, Sr, and Zn). The correlation between soil and dust samples based on mineralogical composition, elemental enrichment factors, and physicochemical properties confirm that the playa surfaces are the major contributors to dust in the region. IN activity with onset temperatures ranging from 245 to 250 K demonstrates the high potential of dust blown from Urmia playa surfaces to affect cloud properties and precipitation. Freezing onset temperatures and the fraction of heterogeneously frozen droplets in the emulsions reveal variations in IN activity depending on the mineralogical composition of the samples but which are also influenced by organic matter, salinity, and pH. Specifically, IN activity correlates positively with organic matter and clay minerals and negatively with pH, salinity, and (surprisingly) K-feldspar and quartz content. The high wind erodibility and dust production of the LU playa surfaces together with their high IN activity can play an important role in the climate of the region and thus needs careful monitoring and specific attention.

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“…However, from a different perspective, heavy rains in northwestern Iran may be much needed as they would facilitate recovery of the desiccating Lake Urmia. This saline lake has shrunk sharply between 1996 and 2016 (Alborzi et al., 2018; Danesh‐Yazdi & Ataie‐Ashtiani, 2019) and some of its dried parts have emerged into potential dust sources, resulting in health and environmental consequences (Boroughani et al., 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%