The Impacts of Taklimakan Dust Events on Chinese Urban Air Quality in 2015

Abstract

Aerosols are an important factor affecting air quality. As the largest source of dust aerosol of East Asia, the Taklimakan Desert in Northwest China witnesses frequent dust storm events, which bring about significant impacts on the downstream air quality. However, the scope and timing of the impacts of Taklimakan dust events on Chinese urban air quality have not yet been fully investigated. In this paper, based on multi-source dust data including ground observations, satellite monitoring, and reanalysis products, as well as air quality index (AQI) and the mass concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 at 367 urban stations in China for 2015, we examined the temporal and spatial characteristics of the impacts of the Taklimakan dust events on downstream urban air quality in China. The results show that the Taklimakan dust events severely affected the air quality of most cities in Northwest China including eastern Xinjiang, Hexi Corridor and Guanzhong Basin, and even northern Southwest China, leading to significant increases in mass concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 in these cities correlating with the occurrence of dust events. The mass concentrations of PM10 on dust days increased by 11–173% compared with the non-dust days, while the mass concentration of PM2.5 increased by 21–172%. The increments of the mass concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 on dust days decreased as the distances increased between the cities and the Taklimakan Desert. The influence of the Taklimakan dust events on the air quality in the downstream cities usually persisted for up to four days. The mass concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 increased successively and the impact duration shortened gradually with increasing distances to the source area as a strong dust storm progressed toward the southeast from the Taklimakan Desert. The peaks of the PM10 concentrations in the downstream cities of eastern Xinjiang, the Hexi Corridor and the Guanzhong Basin occurred on the second, third and fourth days, respectively, after the initiation of the Taklimakan dust storm.

Long-Range Transport of a Dust Event and Impact on Marine Chlorophyll-a Concentration in April 2023

“…Dust aerosols have a significant impact on the radiative energy balance of the Earthatmosphere system by scattering and absorbing solar and infrared radiation [1][2][3][4], and can also indirectly affect the global climate system by affecting the optical properties of clouds [5][6][7]. Dust aerosols can reduce air quality and visibility [8][9][10], with serious implications for human health [11,12]. In addition to affecting local air quality, trace elements (such as Fe) and nutrients in dust aerosols also affect marine biogeochemical cycles through long-range transport and deposition, enhancing carbon uptake by the ocean [13][14][15][16].…”

Spatiotemporal changes in fine particulate matter and ozone in the oasis city of Korla, northeastern Tarim Basin of China

“…In recent years, many studies in developed areas of China, such as the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the North China Plain, have been conducted on urban air quality based on long-term air pollution data combined with a variety of experimental and modeling methods 17 , 18 . However, in Xinjiang, a relatively underdeveloped region in northwest China, urban air research has focused on the characteristics, meteorological effects and sources of air pollution in heavily industrialized cities on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains 19 ; The impact of the 2015 Taklamakan dust event on the air quality of urban areas in China 20 ; Analysis of emission reduction measures and simulation study of PM 2.5 concentration in Xinjiang's main cotton production area, and study of spatial 21 and temporal characteristics of air pollution (PM 2.5 , PM 10 , SO 2 , NO 2, CO, and O 3 ) in surrounding areas caused by a large amount of wind-blown sand from the desert (Taklamakan Desert) 22 .…”

Hybrid Methods’ Integration for Remote Sensing Monitoring and Process Analysis of Dust Storm Based on Multi-Source Data

“…Previous studies have shown that the combination of satellite remote sensing and ground-based observation data provides a good analysis of dust storm events, including identifying dust source areas and propagation trajectories [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. For example, Guo et al [24] utilized the aerosol optical depth (AOD) data from MODIS aboard Satellite Aqua, along with the altitude-resolved aerosol types from CALIOP and surface PM 10 measurements, to investigate the dust activities in the springtime of northern China.…”