Regional characteristics of dust events in China

The regional characteristics of dust events in China has b een mainly studied by using the data of dust storm, wind-blown sand and floating dust from 338 observation stations through China from 1954 to 2000. The results of this study are as follows: (1) In China, there are two h igh frequent areas of dust events, one is located in the area of Min feng and Hotan in the South Xinjiang Basin, the other is situated in the area of Minqin and Jilantai in the Hexi Region. Furthermore, th e spatial distributions of the various types of dust events are diffe rent. The dust storms mainly occur in the arid and semiarid areas co vering the deserts and the areas undergoing desertification in northern China. Wind-blown sand and floating-dust not only occur in the areas where dust storms occur, but also extend to the neighboring areas. The range of wind-blown sand extends northeastward and southeastward, b ut floating-dust mainly extends southeastward to the low-latitude region such as the East China Plain and the area of the middle and lower reaches o f the Yangtze River. Compared with wind-blown sand, the floating-dust seldo m occurs in the high latitude areas such as North Xinjiang and North east China. (2) The affected areas of dust storms can be divided into seven sub-regions, that is, North Xinjiang Region, South Xinjiang Reg ion, Hexi Region, Qaidam Basin Region, Hetao Region, Northeastern China Region and Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Region. The area of the most freque nt occurrence of dust storms and floating-dust is in South Xinjiang Region, and of wind-blown sand in the Hexi Region. In general, the frequency of d ust events in all the seven regions shows a decreasing tendency from 19 54 to 2000, but there are certain differences between various dust events in d ifferent regions. The maximum interannual change and variance of dust events during this time happened in South Xinjiang Region and Hexi Re gion. The dust events generally occur most frequently in April in most pa rts of China. The spring occurred days of dust events occupied 60-70% of the whole year in Hetao Region and Northeastern China Region. However, in South Xinjiang Region and North Xinjiang Region, which was less affec ted by monsoon climate, dust events may occur at any time of the year, le ss than 50% of the events in this region occur during spring. In the remaining three regions 50-60% of the dust events occur in spring of a year.