Spatial and temporal variations of blowing dust events in the Taklimakan Desert

Yang, Xinghua; Shen, Shuanghe; Yang, Fan; He, Qing; Mamtimin, Ali; Huo, Wen; Liu, Xinchun

doi:10.1007/s00704-015-1537-4

Cited by 33 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Statistics from 20 dust storms in Hotan Prefecture are consistent with a "sharp increase followed by a slow decrease". Previous research by Yang et al (2016) suggested that variations in dust events are mainly affected by strong winds and daily temperatures with correlation coefficients of 0.46 and -0.41 for dust events respectively across the whole Taklimakan Desert. This correlation analysis indicates that a strong wind is the dominant factor that results in the formation of sand-dust storms.…”

Section: Variations In Hourly Mean Pm 10 Concentrations In Hotan Prefmentioning

confidence: 95%

Characteristics of air pollution events over Hotan Prefecture at the southwestern edge of Taklimakan Desert, China

Wang

Chu

et al. 2018

J. Arid Land

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Hotan Prefecture is located at the southwestern edge of Taklimakan Desert, the world's largest shifting sand desert, of China. The desert is one of the main sources for frequent sand-dust weather events which strongly affect the air quality of Hotan Prefecture. Although this region is characterized by the highest annual mean PM 10 concentration values that are routinely recorded by environmental monitoring stations across China, both this phenomenon and its underlying causes have not been adequately addressed in previous researches. Reliable pollutant PM 10 data are currently retrieved using a tapered element oscillating microbalance (TEOM) 1400a, a direct real-time monitor, while additional concentration values including for PM 2.5 , sulfur dioxide (SO 2), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2), carbon monoxide (CO) and ozone (O 3) have been collected in recent years by the Hotan Environmental Monitoring Station. Based on these data, this paper presents a comparison of the influences of different kinds of sand-dust weather events on PM 10 (or PM 2.5) as well as the concentrations of other gaseous pollutants in Hotan Prefecture. It is revealed that the highest monthly average PM 10 concentrations are observed in the spring because of the frequent occurrence of three distinct kinds of sand-dust weather events at this time, including dust storms, blowing dust and floating dust. The floating dust makes the most significant contribution to PM 10 (or PM 2.5) concentration in this region, a result that differs from eastern Chinese cities where the heaviest PM 10 pollution occurs usually in winter and air pollution results from the excess emission of local anthropogenic pollutants. It is also shown that PM 10 concentration varies within typical dust storms. PM 10 concentrations vary among 20 dust storm events within Hotan Prefecture, and the hourly mean concentrations tend to sharply increase initially then slowly decreasing over time. Data collected from cities in eastern China show the opposite with the hourly mean PM 10 (or PM 2.5) concentration tending to slowly increase then sharply decrease during heavy air pollution due to the excess emission of local anthropogenic pollutants. It is also found that the concentration of gaseous pollutants during sand-dust weather events tends to be lower than those cases under clear sky conditions. This indicates that these dust events effectively remove and rapidly diffuse gaseous pollutants. The analysis also shows that the concentration of SO 2 decreases gradually at the onset of all three kinds of sand-dust weather events because of rapidly increasing wind velocity and the development of favorable atmospheric conditions for diffusion. In contrast, changes in O 3 and NO 2 concentrations conformed to the opposite pattern during all three kinds of sand-dust weather events within this region, implying the inter transformation of these gas species during these events.

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Section: Variations In Hourly Mean Pm 10 Concentrations In Hotan Prefmentioning

confidence: 95%

Characteristics of air pollution events over Hotan Prefecture at the southwestern edge of Taklimakan Desert, China

Wang

Chu

et al. 2018

J. Arid Land

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“…Other researchers have highlighted a trend towards greater vegetation cover in northern China generally in recent decades but primarily due to greater rainfall and warmer temperatures [72,73]. In the Taklamakan Desert, where Yang et al [74] identified a declining trend in sandstorms from 1961 to 2010 and a similar trend in blowing sand and dust after 1979, these authors state that "there is no obvious effect of human activities on the decrease in the number of blowing dust events during the last 50 years. "…”

Section: Northeast Asia: Minqin Chinamentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability and Trends in Dust Storm Frequency on Decadal Timescales: Climatic Drivers and Human Impacts

Middleton

2019

Geosciences

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Dust storms present numerous hazards to human society and are particularly significant to people living in the Dust Belt which stretches from the Sahara across the Middle East to northeast Asia. This paper presents a review of dust storm variability and trends in frequency on decadal timescales from three Dust Belt settlements with long-term (>50 years) meteorological records: Nouakchott, Mauritania; Zabol, Iran, and Minqin, China. The inhabitants of each of these settlements have experienced a decline in dust storms in recent decades, since the late 1980s at Nouakchott, since 2004 at Zabol, and since the late 1970s at Minqin. The roles of climatic variables and human activities are assessed in each case, as drivers of periods of high dust storm frequency and subsequent declines in dust emissions. Both climatic and human variables have been important but overall the balance of research conclusions indicates natural processes (precipitation totals, wind strength) have had greater impact than human action, in the latter case both in the form of mismanagement (abandoned farmland, water management schemes) and attempts to reduce wind erosion (afforestation projects). Understanding the drivers of change in dust storm dynamics at the local scale is increasingly important for efforts to mitigate dust storm hazards as climate change projections suggest that the global dryland area is likely to expand in the twenty-first century, along with an associated increase in the risk of drought and dust emissions.

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“…Wang et al [38] also pointed out that the glacial retreat and snow melting in the Tibetan Plateau are closely related to the transmission of dust particles. Earlier studies on dust in the TD mainly relied on the data of meteorological stations to analyze the frequency of dust occurrence [39,40]. The vertical distribution characteristics of dust aerosols were often studied by means of satellite remote sensing, such as CALIPSO, moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) and simulation results [41][42][43].…”

Section: Study Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polarization Lidar Measurements of Dust Optical Properties at the Junction of the Taklimakan Desert–Tibetan Plateau

Dong

Huang

et al. 2022

Remote Sensing

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Previous studies have shown that dust aerosols may accelerate the melting of snow and glaciers over the Tibetan Plateau. To investigate the vertical structure of dust aerosols, we conducted a ground-based observation by using multi-wavelength polarization lidar which is designed for continuous network measurements. In this study, we used the lidar observation from September to October 2020 at the Ruoqiang site (39.0°N, 88.2°E; 894 m ASL), located at the junction of the Taklimakan Desert–Tibetan Plateau. Our results showed that dust aerosols can be lifted up to 5 km from the ground, which is comparable with the elevation of the Tibetan Plateau in autumn with a mass concentration of 400–900 μg m−3. Moreover, the particle depolarization ratio (PDR) of the lifted dust aerosols at 532 nm and 355 nm are 0.34 ± 0.03 and 0.25 ± 0.04, respectively, indicating the high degree of non-sphericity in shape. In addition, extinction-related Ångström exponents are very small (0.11 ± 0.24), implying the large values in size. Based on ground-based lidar observation, this study proved that coarse non-spherical Taklimakan dust with high concentration can be transported to the Tibetan Plateau, suggesting its possible impacts on the regional climate and ecosystem.

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Spatial and temporal variations of blowing dust events in the Taklimakan Desert

Cited by 33 publications

References 41 publications

Characteristics of air pollution events over Hotan Prefecture at the southwestern edge of Taklimakan Desert, China

Characteristics of air pollution events over Hotan Prefecture at the southwestern edge of Taklimakan Desert, China

Variability and Trends in Dust Storm Frequency on Decadal Timescales: Climatic Drivers and Human Impacts

Polarization Lidar Measurements of Dust Optical Properties at the Junction of the Taklimakan Desert–Tibetan Plateau

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