Observational study of formation mechanism, vertical structure, and dust emission of dust devils over the Taklimakan Desert, China

Liu, Chong; Zhao, Tianliang; Yang, Xinghua; Liu, Feng; Han, Yongxiang; Luan, Zhaopeng; He, Qing; Rood, Mark J.; Yuen, Wangki

doi:10.1002/2015jd024256

Cited by 15 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 34 publications

(46 reference statements)

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“…In Asia, approximately 400 to 1100 Tg yr −1 of modern dust aerosols, or more than 50% of the global total, originate from China such as from the Qaidam Basin, Tarim Basin and Ala Shan Plateau 22 – 26 (Fig. 1 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modern dust aerosol availability in northwestern China

Wang

Cao

Che

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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The sources of modern dust aerosols and their emission magnitudes are fundamental for linking dust with climate and environment. Using field sample data, wind tunnel experiments and statistical analysis, we determined the contributions of wadis, gobi (stony desert), lakebeds, riverbeds, and interdunes to modern dust aerosol availability in the three important potential dust sources including the Tarim Basin, Qaidam Basin, and Ala Shan Plateau of China. The results show that riverbeds are the dominant landscape for modern dust aerosol availabilities in the Qaidam Basin, while wadis, gobi, and interdunes are the main landscapes over the Ala Shan Plateau and Tarim Basin. The Ala Shan Plateau and Tarim Basin are potential dust sources in northwestern China, while the Qaidam Basin is not a major source of the modern dust aerosols nowadays, and it is not acting in a significant way to the Loess Plateau presently. Moreover, most of modern dust aerosol emissions from China originated from aeolian processes with low intensities rather than from major dust events.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modern dust aerosol availability in northwestern China

Wang

Cao

Che

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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“…The opacity of dust devils may also be affected by meteorology like ambient wind and temperature difference between surface and air (Liu et al, 2016), which could influence the structures of dust devils. High-strength dust devils can roll up more dust particles, affecting the opacity of dust devils.…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dust opacities inside the dust devil column in the Taklimakan Desert

et al. 2017

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Abstract. The distribution of dust aerosols in dust devils (DDs) is quantitatively characterized here based on a field observation. We applied the digital optical method (DOM) with digital still cameras to quantify the opacity of the DDs in the Taklimakan Desert, China. This study presents the following unique and important results: (1) the distinct horizontal distributions of opacity proved the existence of DDs' eye, similarly to the eye of tropical cyclone; (2) the opacity of the DDs decreases with increasing height; however, the dust aerosols do appear to settle out, and the relatively calm eye leads to a minimum in dust opacity at the eye; (3) the horizontal distribution of opacity is quasi-symmetric with a bimodal across the eye of the DDs, which could be resulted from the ambient air conditions; and (4) a new method is developed for characterizing the three-dimensional structure of DDs based on the observed two-dimensional opacity provided by DOM. This study not only proposes a highly reliable, low-cost and efficient methodology to capture the optical structure of DDs, but it could also provide the information on estimation of dust emissions driven by DDs.

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“…In summary, investigations regarding dust emission, transport, and deposition mainly focus on estimating the amount of dust emission from the ground surface, the mechanisms of dust emission and the influencing factors, simulating the processes and calculating the total amount of dust transport at high levels, and dust deposition [8,[18][19][20][21]41,42]. However, the research on dust aerosol emissions in this region mainly focuses on emissions from dusty weather in the Taklimakan Desert [47][48][49][50], without considering the details of sand rising and dust falling in the near-surface layer of the desert source area. As an important link of dust aerosol transmission from the ground to the atmospheric boundary layer, the near-surface layer is still lacking research on the structure due to difficulties in obtaining data during disastrous dust storm over the dust source area, which is an important segment of dust transport in the horizontal and vertical directions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships between Near-Surface Horizontal Dust Fluxes and Dust Depositions at the Centre and Edge of the Taklamakan Desert

Huo

Song

et al. 2022

Land

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The emission, transport, and deposition of dust are frequently the focus of dust aerosol studies. However, owing to limited observation data, few studies have examined the relationships between the key parameters of dust transport, especially in typical dust source areas. Therefore, investigating the relationship between near-surface horizontal dust fluxes and dust depositions in typical desert source areas can further help us to understand the movement and transport patterns of dust aerosols. Based on observational experiments on two key transport parameters, this study focused on the quantitative relationship between the horizontal dust flux (Q) and dust deposition (D). A 13-month long dust sample collection experiment was conducted from August 2017 to August 2018 at Xiaotang Station (hereafter XT,40°48′ N, 84°18′ E) and Tazhong Station (hereafter TZ, 39°00′ N, 83°40′ E). The results show that the observed D and Q peaks coincided with periods of high dust storm incidence, with the greatest accumulation observed in spring. Moreover, both Q and D decreased with increasing height in XT, and this phenomenon remained on a monthly scale. In contrast, no clear decreasing pattern in Q and D with increasing height was observed in TZ. Additionally, relatively coarse particles, primarily from local sources, dominated dust depositions in both locations. The proportion of deposited dust particles with a size <20 μm was slightly higher in XT than that in TZ. Specifically, dust depositions in XT contained finer local dust particles and more dust from long-distance transport. Furthermore, D and Q had a significantly positive linear correlation in XT; however, no significant correlation was observed in TZ. Analysis of the wind dynamics and surface dust particle size indicated that topographic differences between the two stations caused these differences in correlation.

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Observational study of formation mechanism, vertical structure, and dust emission of dust devils over the Taklimakan Desert, China

Cited by 15 publications

References 34 publications

Modern dust aerosol availability in northwestern China

Modern dust aerosol availability in northwestern China

Dust opacities inside the dust devil column in the Taklimakan Desert

Relationships between Near-Surface Horizontal Dust Fluxes and Dust Depositions at the Centre and Edge of the Taklamakan Desert

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