Record-breaking dust loading during two mega dust storm events over northern China in March 2021: aerosol optical and radiative properties and meteorological drivers

Abstract

Abstract. Although a remarkable reduction in the frequency of sand and dust storms (SDSs) in the past several decades has been reported over northern China (NC), two unexpected mega SDSs occurred on 15–20 and 27–29 March 2021 (abbreviated as the “3.15” and “3.27” SDS events), which has reawakened widespread concern. This study characterizes the optical, microphysical, and radiative properties of aerosols and their meteorological drivers during these two SDS events using the Sun photometer observations in Beijing and a comprehensive set of multiple satellite (including MODIS, VIIRS, CALIOP, and Himawari-8) and ground-based observations (including the CMA visibility network and AD-Net) combined with atmospheric reanalysis data. Moreover, a long-term (2000–2021) dust optical depth (DOD) dataset retrieved from MODIS measurements was also utilized to evaluate the historical ranking of the dust loading in NC during dust events. During the 3.15 and 3.27 events, the invasion of dust plumes greatly degraded the visibility over large areas of NC, with extreme low visibility of 50 and 500 m recorded at most sites on 15 and 28 March, respectively. Despite the shorter duration of the 3.27 event relative to the 3.15 event, sun photometer and satellite observations in Beijing recorded a larger peak AOD (∼2.5) in the former than in the latter (∼2.0), which was mainly attributed to the short-term intrusion of coarse-mode dust particles with larger effective radii (∼1.9 µm) and volume concentrations (∼2.0 µm3 µm−2) during the 3.27 event. The shortwave direct aerosol radiative forcing induced by dust was estimated to be −92.1 and −111.4 W m−2 at the top of the atmosphere, −184.7 and −296.2 W m−2 at the surface, and +92.6 and +184.8 W m−2 in the atmosphere in Beijing during the 3.15 and 3.27 events, respectively. CALIOP observations show that during the 3.15 event the dust plume was lifted to an altitude of 4–8 km, and its range of impact extended from the dust source to the eastern coast of China. In contrast, the lifting height of the dust plume during the 3.27 event was lower than that during the 3.15 event, which was also confirmed by ground-based lidar observations. The MODIS-retrieved DOD data registered these two massive SDS events as the most intense episode in the same period in history over the past 2 decades. These two extreme SDS events were associated with both atmospheric circulation extremes and local meteorological anomalies that favored enhanced dust emissions in the Gobi Desert (GD) across southern Mongolia and NC. Meteorological analysis revealed that both SDS events were triggered by an exceptionally strong Mongolian cyclone generated at nearly the same location (along the central and eastern plateau of Inner Mongolia) in conjunction with a surface-level cold high-pressure system at the rear, albeit with differences in magnitude and spatial extent of impact. In the GD, the early melting of spring snow caused by near-surface temperature anomalies over dust source regions, together with negative soil moisture anomalies induced by decreased precipitation, formed drier and barer soil surfaces, which allowed for increased emissions of dust into the atmosphere by strongly enhanced surface winds generated by the Mongolian cyclone.

Climatology of aerosol component concentrations derived from multi-angular polarimetric POLDER-3 observations using GRASP algorithm

“…To date, the studies of these dust sources were conducted based on satellite remote sensing, mostly providing the total AOD, AODC or AOD related, under extra assumptions, to desert Dust Optical Depth (DOD) (Logothetis et al, 2021). Those studies were conducted based on derived dust indices, AOD, aerosol profiles, and on thermal infrared signal, i.e., from products of the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS; Ginoux et al, 2012;Prospero et al, 2002), MODIS (Gui et al, 2022;Remer et al, 2008;Schepanski et al, 2012;Song et al, 2021;Voss and Evan, 2020;Yu et al, 2019), Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI; Clarisse et al, 2019;Yu et al, 2019), MISR (Gui et al, 2021a;Kahn and Gaitley, 2015;Yu et al, 2019), and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP; Gui et al, 2021bGui et al, , 2022Shikwambana and Sivakumar, 2018;Song et al, 2021). In this regard, the GRASP/Component product from POLDER-3 privies certainly more direct quantitative evaluations of the mineral dust composition and its iron-oxide content, enabling studies of the trends and variability.…”

Three-Dimensional Distribution and Transport Features of Dust and Polluted Dust over China and Surrounding Areas from CALIPSO

“…In the Qaidam Basin, the σ D was highest in spring followed by that in summer and the weakest was in autumn. The Loess Plateau and the nearby deserts are very important dust sources in spring due to low vegetation cover, a dry and loose soil surface and frequent cyclones [51]. The dust particles of the Loess Plateau could exceed 3 km in height with σ D > 0.1 km −1 , which facilitated long-range transport.…”

Measuring and Attributing Sedimentary and Geomorphic Responses to Modern Climate Change: Challenges and Opportunities

“…Some studies favor land use as the dominant explanation for the increased dust; others favor climate, and among those there is debate about the role of global warming versus shorter‐term climatic cycles (Hand et al., 2016). Uncertainty as to the relative influence of climate and land use is likely slowing effective mitigation even as dust events frequently threaten public health, as seen recently in China, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, (BBC News, 2022; Gui et al., 2022; Washington Post, 2022).…”