Saharan dust storms have a well-documented impact on weather, air quality, and public health in the Americas, including San Antonio, TX.

Historically, large-scale Saharan dust events reach Texas and the Gulf Coast almost annually between late spring and early fall, most notably in Houston, Florida, the Caribbean, and occasionally further inland and south into the Amazon basin.

These events cause significant increases in fine particulate matter (PM2.5), leading to reduced air quality, worsened allergies, aggravation of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and increased asthma attacks.

Pathogenic bacteria, fungi, metals, and allergens carried by the dust further amplify health risks, especially for sensitive groups and those with pre-existing respiratory issues.

Emergency departments may see an uptick in respiratory complaints during major incursions .

Meteorologically, Saharan dust stabilizes the lower atmosphere by introducing hot, dry air and particulate matter, often suppressing hurricane formation and reducing precipitation.

While the dust haze can markedly reduce visibility—affecting both ground and air traffic—it also reflects sunlight, temporarily lowering ultraviolet and solar radiation at the surface, with minimal or slightly cooler local temperature changes.

Dust accumulation can decrease solar power panel output and reduce photosynthesis in crops, impacting agriculture and power grid operations .

Positively, transported dust delivers nutrients (iron, phosphorus) vital for oceanic and rainforest ecosystems, but excess can harm certain habitats, like coral reefs .

Preparation should focus on issuing health advisories for vulnerable populations, readying hospitals, ensuring backup for solar energy, communicating traffic visibility risks, and regularly monitoring PM2.5 levels.

Advising citizens to remain indoors, use air purifiers, and wear masks, especially during high dust alerts, has shown benefit in similar Texan cities .

Saharan dust storms have a well-documented impact on weather, air quality, and public health in the Americas, including San Antonio, TX.

Title:

Content: Dust storms.
sources and danger.
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At the beginning of this year's spring season, the incidence of dust storms increased significantly.
Their frequency varies from year to year, but generally increases in the transitional periods between seasons, especially spring and autumn, for many reasons, some natural and others of a human nature, that is, by man.
Dust storms are fast winds that transport dust and plankton, causing a lack of visibility at short distances.
Despite the great controversy over the causes of dust or dust storms and the fact that the camel bears full responsibility for their occurrence, as stated in one of the videos circulated on social media, the reasons are not limited to the poor camel alone, even if it is one of the reasons!
The causes of dust storms are many, including: (1) Desertification as a result of drought resulting from low rainfall.
(2) Desertification due to human activities associated with overgrazing as a result of increasing numbers of camels and sheep on pasture capacity.
(3) Extensive agricultural activities, especially ploughing the land and leaving it exposed for long periods.
(4) Soil movement as a result of development and military actions and absurd car tracks in deserts that led to the breaking and dismantling of the soil and the destruction of vegetation cover.
(5) The reduction of the surface groundwater table, which led to the drying of the soil and thus the impact on the vegetation cover.
Globally, sub-Saharan Africa is the main contributor to Earth ’ s dust storms, which travel to the Americas via the Atlantic Ocean via tropical east winds.
But the Fertile Crescent has also become a source of dust, due to the halving of agricultural production as a result of climate change.
Iraq is one of the sources of dust storms as a result of the decline of the level of rivers, which led to the drought of the marshes and lakes in Iraq and Iran, and add to the list of sources open deserts of the Kingdom, which suffer environmental degradation as a result of human tampering of unfair grazing and wood and the like.
Dust storms are one of the factors responsible for increased allergic reactions, asthma attacks and chronic breathing problems, as well as blood vessels and heart disease.
Dust storms are also carriers of microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, germs and viruses that cause certain diseases.
Besides, dust storms have economic effects, they adversely affect agricultural production by transporting agricultural pests, reducing photosynthetic activity, destroying crops, as well as affecting infrastructure, by reducing visibility, disrupting energy and air and road transport systems, burying railways, as well as contributing to the deterioration of the performance of solar panels, as well as damaging residential property.
There is no doubt that dust storms and their increased frequency are a warning sign that requires a rapid response through a review of environmental regulations, the need to raise the environmental awareness of the population, the organization of grazing seasons based on the identification of the pastoral capacity of each region, as well as innovative solutions to mitigate desertification that benefit from tremendous technical progress.
Finally, it follows from the above that the problem is not country-specific, but a regional problem that requires concerted efforts.
The Green Middle East initiative by Prince Mohammed bin Salman is designed to design innovative solutions to address climate change and promote environmental sustainability through a number of projects, including: planting 50 billion trees across the Middle East region and reclaiming 200 million hectares of degraded land through afforestation, which contributes to a 2.5 per cent reduction in global carbon emissions.
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How does Saharan dust affect immediate weather?

What are the negative health effects of Saharan dust?

What areas of the Americas have been affected by Saharan dust storms?

What areas of the US have been affected by Saharan dust storms?

Historically, large-scale Saharan dust events reach Texas and the Gulf Coast almost annually between late spring and early fall, most notably in Houston, Florida, the Caribbean, and occasionally further inland and south into the Amazon basin.

Title:

Content: Saharan dust reaches stunning levels in Atlantic. Here's what that means for hurricane season

Significant Saharan dust plumes are common in the Atlantic during the start of hurricane season. If levels of SAL maintain a steadiness after about Aug. 20, then there would be significant ramifications to both the amount of cyclones and their overall strength.

First, Europe that was socked in by record levels of dust from the Sahara Desert in Africa. The Atlantic appears to have now taken the lead, with dust levels not seen in years across parts of the basin.

Satellite measurements indicate intensive plumes of dust, called the Saharan Air Layer, across much of the eastern Atlantic. Traces of dust have even made the more than 4,000-mile journey to Florida and the Gulf Coast.

Sunrises and sunsets have been enhanced across the Sunshine State as the particles scatter typical colors, allowing hues of orange, yellow and red to dominate the sky.

Aside from the vibrant colors, something not falling from the sky is precipitation.

According to NOAA, the air surrounding the SAL has about 50% less moisture than the typical atmosphere. This means the presence of the SAL can be detrimental to cloud formation and thunderstorm activity.

Significant plumes of dust and dry air are common during the first months of the hurricane season and usually persist through mid-August.

A LOOK AT A PHENOMENON THAT COULD DERAIL AN ACTIVE HURRICANE SEASON

How Saharan dust impacts hurricane season

NOAA estimates that more than 180 million tons of dust leave the African continent every year, reducing thunderstorm activity and tropical cyclone formation.

Dry air and Saharan dust are perennial wild cards in tropical weather outlooks, as meteorology has yet to develop sufficient methods to forecast plumes weeks and months in advance.

Years with significant dust often experience reduced cyclone activity. Seasons with minimal dust typically rank at the top echelons of activity, thanks to increased moisture availability for tropical systems and warmer water temperatures.

The current season is a bit unusual as water temperatures started on the warm side across much of the basin, negating any minor effects from a dust storm.

Warm waters and limited exposure to dry air helped with the formations of AlbertoBeryl and Chris during late June and early July.

Since Beryl’s historic trek through the Caribbean and into the Gulf of Mexico, the basin has been relatively quiet, a likely product of the increase in dry air.

The trend for limited activity in the Atlantic basin is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, meaning that the next cyclone formation may be weeks away.

5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE SAHARAN DUST PLUME

During an average year, the fourth-named storm usually doesn’t form until about Aug. 15, meaning any formation during the next month will keep the season ahead of a typical schedule.

Despite the hostile conditions in the Atlantic, hurricane forecasters at Colorado State University maintain that 2024 will be a busy season in the Atlantic.

CSU released its updated outlook Tuesday, which calls for an additional 22 named storms, 11 hurricanes and five major hurricanes.

"This forecast is of above-normal confidence. We anticipate a well above-average probability for major hurricane landfalls along the continental United States coastline and in the Caribbean," CSU forecasters stated during their most recent tropical update. "As with all hurricane seasons, coastal residents are reminded that it only takes one hurricane making landfall to make it an active season."

The season runs through Nov. 30, but nearly 60% of cyclone formation occurs in August and September.

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What areas of the Americas have been affected by Saharan dust storms?

What areas of the US have been affected by Saharan dust storms?

These events cause significant increases in fine particulate matter (PM2.5), leading to reduced air quality, worsened allergies, aggravation of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and increased asthma attacks.

How does Saharan dust affect immediate weather?

What are the negative health effects of Saharan dust?

cardiovascular diseases
allergies
respiratory issues

Pathogenic bacteria, fungi, metals, and allergens carried by the dust further amplify health risks, especially for sensitive groups and those with pre-existing respiratory issues.

Title:

Content: 03-27-2024

Sahara desert dust storms carry harmful bacteria and fungi around the globe

We often dismiss springtime allergies as reactions to local pollen. Yet, something else might cause our sniffles and sneezes: a massive dust storms that originate thousands of miles away in Africa’s Sahara region.

These gargantuan dust plumes travel the globe every summer, carrying a cocktail of pollutants and potential pathogens across continents.

Dr. Shankar Chellam, a Texas A&M University professor is leading the charge to understand the biological hitchhikers within dust storms.

He and his team are working to determine what microbes, specifically bacteria and fungi, migrate with the dust and explore their potential impact on human health.

Hidden passengers in Sahara dust

“We all get allergies and potentially other more severe health effects when we breathe in dust, and it’s not fully known as to what causes those allergies,” said Dr. Chellam.

“Some people may think it is just the sand or clay minerals in the dust. Others think it is the metals or organics in the dust, and then some think it’s the bacteria and fungi.”

The Saharan dust cloud carries vast amounts of sand particles that transport bacteria and fungi.

Dr. Chellam’s research uniquely addresses how Saharan dust storms introduce these microbes into North America.

What the dust storm from Sahara tells us

Dr. Chellam and his team analyzed samples from a Saharan dust event that reached Houston in 2018. They measured metals, bacteria, and fungi to investigate any connections.

Fascinatingly, their findings revealed strong links between the biodiversity of the microbes and specific elements, especially calcium.

While these elements occur naturally in the Sahara, they also exist in our local environments. Pinpointing the exact origin of the dust and its cargo remains a challenge that scientists continue to tackle.

Our air – Not as empty as we think

Perhaps the most startling discovery is that even seemingly lifeless clouds of dust brim with biological activity.

“A key takeaway from this study is that a lot of biodiversity is not scientifically described. It doesn’t have a name, it can’t be cultured, and because it can’t be cultured, it’s difficult to study,” explained Dr. Daniel Spalink, assistant professor at Texas A&M.

The team’s high-tech DNA analysis allowed them to create an inventory of bacteria and fungi, even if the microbes themselves weren’t active.

Surprisingly, they found traces of several pathogens known to cause disease in humans, as listed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

“It doesn’t tell us if they are going to be able to infect us and make us sick,” Spalink cautions, “But at least the DNA of several pathogenic bacteria and fungi were identified in the African dust.”

Impact of climate change on Sahara dust

Climate change is altering weather patterns globally. This transformation affects dust storm behavior, leading to variations in their frequency and intensity.

In 2020, the United States experienced the most massive Saharan dust storm ever recorded, which experts named “Godzilla.”

This event highlighted the potential for increasing occurrences of such dust invasions. “The whole dynamics of the Saharan dust coming to Houston is primarily driven by atmospheric processes,” said Dr. Sourav Das, a former student of Dr. Chellam.

Global connection of Sahara dust

Sahara dust storm travels far beyond the borders of North America, affecting global environmental systems in profound ways.

This dust, originating from the vast Sahara Desert, embarks on transcontinental journeys that influence climate, ocean biology, and ecosystems far removed from its source.

The Saharan dust plays a critical role in climate regulation. As it travels across oceans and continents, it reflects sunlight back into space, cooling the Earth’s surface.

This natural phenomenon acts as a counterbalance to the warming effects of greenhouse gases, showcasing how desert dust can influence global temperatures.

However, the dust also carries microorganisms and nutrients, such as phosphorus, that fertilize remote ecosystems, from the Amazon rainforest to the Caribbean Sea, demonstrating nature’s complex nutrient cycles.

Benefits to oceans

Ocean biology benefits from the nutrient-rich dust as well. When Saharan dust settles on ocean waters, it delivers essential minerals that stimulate the growth of phytoplankton.

These microscopic plants form the foundation of the oceanic food chain, supporting a diverse array of marine life.

The influx of nutrients from the Sahara can thus boost marine productivity, affecting fish populations and the global fishing industry.

Disadvantages

The impact of Saharan dust is not universally beneficial. In ecosystems unaccustomed to the influx of foreign particles and nutrients, the dust can disrupt local environments.

For example, excessive dust deposition can smother coral reefs, blocking sunlight and hindering photosynthesis. This can stress coral ecosystems, leading to bleaching events and loss of biodiversity.

Moreover, the health implications of Saharan dust extend across continents. The dust carries not only nutrients but also pollutants and pathogens that can affect air quality and public health.

Communities in the path of these dust plumes may experience increased respiratory issues, allergies, and diseases, highlighting the need for global health monitoring and preparedness.

Study insights

It’s crucial to gather data across multiple dust events, spanning many years, to get a clearer picture of these airborne microbial communities and how they might transform over time.

While a lot remains unknown, research like this shines a spotlight on the hidden travelers swirling in the air we breathe — travelers who might be affecting our health in surprising ways.

The next time you catch a glimpse of a dust storm rolling in, remember the globe-trotting microbes it carries!

The findings of the study are published in Environmental Science & Technology.

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How does Saharan dust affect immediate weather?

What are the negative health effects of Saharan dust?

Emergency departments may see an uptick in respiratory complaints during major incursions .

Title:

Content: Dust storms from the Sahara desert spread invisible allergens around the world
Science and Technology
Copy Link https: / / en.rt.com / x903
Many blame pollen when the allergy season begins, but there are “invisible travelers ” coming from the Sahara and Sahel region, who may be the cause of this allergy.
The huge dust plumes, which originate thousands of miles away in sub-Saharan Africa, travel by dust storms around the world every summer, carrying a mix of pollutants and potential pathogens across continents.
Dr. Shankar Chilam, a professor at Texas A & M University, led the task of understanding the biological movers within dust storms.
He and his team are working to identify microbes, specifically bacteria and fungi, that migrate with dust and explore their potential impact on human health.
Dr. Chillam ’ s research uniquely addresses how desert dust storms introduced these microbes into North America.
Dr Chillam and his team analysed samples of desert dust that arrived in Houston in 2018, measuring minerals, bacteria and fungi to check for any links.
Surprisingly, their findings revealed strong links between microbial biodiversity and specific elements, especially calcium.
While these elements occur naturally in the Sahara Desert, they are also found in local North American environments.
Identifying the exact source and payload of the dust remains a challenge that scientists continue to face.
Perhaps the most surprising discovery is that even seemingly lifeless dust clouds are full of biological activity.
High-tech DNA analysis allowed the team to create a reservoir of bacteria and fungi, even if the microbes themselves were not active.
Surprisingly, they found traces of several pathogens known to cause disease in humans, according to the World Health Organization.
Dr Daniel Spalink, an assistant professor at Texas A & M University, warns: “This doesn ’ t tell us whether they will be able to infect us and make us sick, but at least the DNA of many pathogenic bacteria and fungi has been identified in African dust. ”
Climate change is changing weather patterns globally.
This shift affects the behavior of dust storms, leading to differences in their frequency and severity.
The dust storm in the Sahara travels far beyond the borders of North America, affecting global ecosystems in profound ways.
The dust, which originates from the vast Sahara desert, is released on transcontinental journeys that affect climate, ocean biology and ecosystems far from its source.
As it travels across oceans and continents, desert dust reflects sunlight back into space, cooling the Earth ’ s surface.
This natural phenomenon acts as a counterbalance to the greenhouse effects of greenhouse gases, illustrating how desert dust can affect global temperatures.
Dust also carries microorganisms and nutrients, such as phosphorus, which fertilises remote ecosystems, from the Amazon rainforest to the Caribbean Sea, demonstrating complex nutrient cycles in nature.
Ocean biology also benefits from nutrient-rich dust.
When desert dust settles on ocean waters, it provides essential minerals that stimulate the growth of phytoplankton that form the basis of the oceanic food chain and support a variety of marine life.
Thus, the flow of food from the Sahara could boost marine productivity, affecting fish populations and the global fishing industry.
But the effect of desert dust is not always beneficial, and in ecosystems unusual for the flow of foreign particles and nutrients, the dust can disrupt local environments.For example, excessive dust deposition can strangle corals, block sunlight and hinder photosynthesis.
Moreover, the health effects of desert dust extend across continents, where dust not only carries nutrients but also contaminants and pathogens that can affect air quality and public health.
Communities in the path of these dust plumes may face increased respiratory problems, allergies and diseases, highlighting the need for surveillance and global health preparedness.
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How can the authorities prepare for a Saharan dust storm?

How does Saharan dust affect immediate weather?

What are the negative health effects of Saharan dust?

Meteorologically, Saharan dust stabilizes the lower atmosphere by introducing hot, dry air and particulate matter, often suppressing hurricane formation and reducing precipitation.

Title:

Content: Hurricane Killer? Here are some things you may not know about Saharan dust

Dust from Africa moves across the Atlantic every year from late spring to early fall

It’s a common visitor in the summer months: dust from the Saharan Desert. Hazy skies and occasional allergies are common issues caused by the dust. But did you know that this layer of dust is more interesting than it appears? Here are some things you may not know about Saharan dust:

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Millions of tons of dust are transported across the Atlantic every year
  • Nutrient-rich Saharan dust plays a crucial role in the global ecosystem
  • Dust suppresses hurricane development

WHOLE LOTTA DUST!

Every year, from late spring to early fall, trade winds transport 180 million tons of dust from the Saharan Desert across the Atlantic Ocean. Impressively, that’s as much as 4.5 million 18-wheelers full of dust!

NATURE’S BEST FRIEND

Saharan dust is often rich in nutrients like iron and phosphorus. As the dust settles over the ocean, it fertilizes algae and plankton, allowing them to grow and flourish in an otherwise barren environment. These organisms are vital sources of food for ocean life.

Similarly, as the dust settles over land, areas like the Amazon rainforest benefit from the extra nutrients.

HURRICANE EXTINGUISHER

The African dust that moves across the Atlantic Ocean is also called the Saharan Air Layer (SAL). The SAL occurs in waves at the same time as Atlantic hurricane season, from June through November.

It’s known that the SAL limits hurricane development and strength. This is because tropical storms like hurricanes need deep, rich moisture from the surface to the top of the atmosphere to survive. Since the air carrying Saharan dust is usually dry, it can prevent storms from forming and suppress existing storms from growing and strengthening.

DUST’S IMPACT ON TEXAS

While a dense plume of dust sometimes causes minor allergy-like symptoms for some, the most noticeable impact is on Texas skies. A haze often forms on the horizon, giving an ordinarily clear, blue sky a milky hue during the day.

At sunrise and sunset, the horizon can appear brilliantly orange because, with dust in the air, sunlight has more particles to bounce off.

About the Author

Sarah Spivey is a San Antonio native who grew up watching KSAT. She has been a proud member of the KSAT Weather Authority Team since 2017. Sarah is a Clark High School and Texas A&M University graduate. She previously worked at KTEN News. When Sarah is not busy forecasting, she enjoys hanging out with her husband and cat, and playing music.

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How does Saharan dust affect immediate weather?

While the dust haze can markedly reduce visibility—affecting both ground and air traffic—it also reflects sunlight, temporarily lowering ultraviolet and solar radiation at the surface, with minimal or slightly cooler local temperature changes.

Title:

Content: Can a "comeback" dust storm in northern China be eradicated for the 10th time this year?
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Source: China Newsweek
Author: Peng Dani, Li Jinjin
Liu Song, a 27-year-old Beijing-based resident, said it had been a long time since the dust storm hit Beijing last year.
He described a feeling of “dead memories beginning to strike me. ”
The Central Meteorological Station of China continued to issue a blue sandstorm warning at 1800 hours on April 19. It is expected that from 20: 00 to 20: 00 on April 19, there will be sand or dust storms in central and western Inner Mongolia, southern and eastern Xinjiang, most parts of Gansu, Ningxia, Shanxi, western Hebei and Beijing.
According to the monitoring data of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, in the past 20 years, China's spring (March-May) dust weather has generally shown a reduction in the number of times, the intensity of weakening trend, has been reduced from the 1960s to the average of 21 times in the past 10 years eight times, and the number of sand and dust days has decreased by an average of 1.63 days every 10 years.
However, the respondents felt that in the past two or three years, the sand and dust weather has "made a comeback."
The north has ushered in the 10th sand and dust weather process so far this year.
This year, the frequency of sand and dust in China is the most frequent in the same period in the past 10 years.
According to the data of the China Meteorological Disaster Yearbook (2020), in the past 20 years, the average number of sand and dust weather in March to April was 7.8 times, and the number of times has exceeded the average.
In 2019, a study released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) showed that about 1 / 4 of the newly added green areas in the world from 2000 to 2017 came from China, and China's contribution rate ranked first in the world, and part of it originated from the greening of sand areas.
In this context, how to understand the "relapse" of dust storms in recent years?
Or enter a new dust storm active cycle
On April 19, strong wind and dust weather occurred in many parts of Gansu, and yellow warnings of sandstorms were issued in Jiuquan and Silver.
Information released by flight travel service APP shows that on the same day, the visibility of Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport was 400 meters, and by 12 noon, there were more than 100 return flights and standby flights.
Dust storms are a common meteorological disaster in arid and semi-arid areas.
Strong winds act like “sweeping robots, ” pulling massive amounts of sand and dust from the ground into the atmosphere from dry soil, taking them hundreds to thousands of kilometers away.
The intensity of sand and dust weather is usually distinguished by horizontal visibility, which is divided into five grades of floating dust, sand, dust storm, strong dust storm and super strong dust storm.
The horizontal visibility of the dust or sand weather is between 1 km and 10 km, the horizontal visibility of the dust storm is less than 1 km, the horizontal visibility of the strong dust storm is less than 500 meters, and the ultra-strong dust storm is less than 50 meters, commonly known as "black wind".
According to the literature, the two main sources of global dust storms are the African desert and the Asian region, which is dominated by the Sahara Desert.
There are three main source areas in Asia, namely Mongolia, the Taklamakan Desert and surrounding areas in northwest China, and the source area in western Inner Mongolia with the Badanjilin Desert as the main body.
Zhang Xiaoyan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and researcher of the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, told China News Weekly that there are more than 1.7 million square kilometers of desert area in northern China, and more than 300,000 square kilometers of Gobi and desert in southern Mongolia, because of the existence of these sandstorms, China is one of the most affected countries in the world by sandstorm weather.
In a recent paper published in April, scholars from the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences pointed out that there are five main routes for the transmission of sand and dust in China, among which the northwestern route is more complex and covers the most extensive area.
It started outside Mongolia and its sandy land (including the Ulanbu Desert and Kubqi Desert in western Inner Mongolia), and transported sand and dust to the northwest, north China, the Yellow and Huai, and the Jianghuai, as the cold air moved from northwest to southeast.
In addition, the northwest path is also the most important transmission path for sandy weather in China, accounting for 38.5% of the sandy weather in the past 20 years.
At a regular press conference held by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in March, Liu Bingjiang, director of the Department of Atmospheric Environment of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said that since March this year, the domestic dust and dust weather has been high. The soil melts rapidly, and at the same time, the sand source ground is basically no precipitation, and the surface is not covered by snow, resulting in extensive surface exposure.
Second, meteorological conditions are conducive to the transmission of sand and dust.
This year, Mongolia's cyclone intensity is strong and cold air activity is high, and strong winds have provided favorable weather conditions for dust particles to roll up into the sky.
In the past 40 years, the frequency of sand and dust in northern China has shown a slow decline.
However, according to data from the Climate Prediction Room of the National Climate Center, the average total number of sand and dust storms in the North between 2018 and 2022 was higher than the average from 2013 to 2017.
In March 2021, the north suffered from sandstorms in many places, and on March 16 of that year, the Central Meteorological Station characterized it as, "The process reached a strong sandstorm intensity, which is the strongest sandstorm weather process in China in the past 10 years."
According to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, in the dust storm, the concentration of PM10 in Beijing rose rapidly in a short time, rising four times in an hour to 6450 micrograms / cubic meter; the concentration of PM10 in the six urban areas reached 8108 micrograms / cubic meter.
"In the past few years, everyone felt that the sandstorm was getting less and less, and thought that the sandstorm had disappeared, but from the perspective of the past two or three years, the sandstorm weather has slowly increased in the past two years and is in a shock trend."
An atmospheric scientist in China said in an interview with China Newsweek.
"There is a cyclical change in the climate system, but this cyclical change is not particularly clear now, and it is difficult to judge the trend based on short-term conditions for several years," Wu Chenglai, an associate researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told China News Weekly.
Zhang Xiaoli believes that from the perspective of monsoon activities, we may have entered a new active period of sand and dust.
He further analyzed that the winter wind has a large cycle of 50-70 years.
China in the 1970s this decade, the dust storm disaster is more serious, after the occurrence of dust storms in the downward trend; the large cycle, winter wind and 20-30 years of short cycle, in this process, in 2002 Beijing there was a very large range of sand and dust storms, since then the wind has been in the process of weakening.
If you look at the 50-year cycle, the 2020s are the beginning of a new cycle.
Wu Chenglai also observed this change. Since 2018, the increase in surface wind speed may be a cyclical change to a large extent, but this needs further study.
He said that due to the large scope of the whole dust source area, specific to different areas, but also depends on the local surface conditions, geographical environment, etc., and such differences can sometimes be very large.
Why did Mongolia become a disaster area?
In mid-March 2021, when China suffered the "strongest sandstorm of the decade", disaster weather such as snowstorms and large sandstorms occurred in many provinces in Mongolia, with wind speeds reaching 20 meters per second.
On April 17, the National Meteorological and Environmental Monitoring Bureau of Mongolia issued a new warning of severe sandstorms, which are forming in the western and northwestern parts of the country.
Mongolia is an important source of sandstorm weather in China.
For example, during the strong dust storm from March 19 to 24 this year, according to satellite observations, a clear distribution of sand and dust can be observed in southern Mongolia on the morning of the 21st, and the range of sand and dust has since expanded.
For Wu Cheng, the specific contribution to a certain place, in fact, is not very clear.
Because the situation in the upstream of the dust storm is obtained through satellite observation, it can master some general characteristics, such as the dust content in the atmosphere, etc., but because the dust storm moving process will be accompanied by sand and settlement, so how much of the dust on a certain ground is rolled up such information, more first-hand data is needed.
In the past 10 years, the number of sandstorms in the Gobi region of Mongolia has quadrupled compared to the 1960s. In an interview with Xinhua in 2021, Enkhbat, director of the Climate Change Department of the Ministry of Natural Environment and Tourism of Mongolia, said that Mongolia is one of the countries most affected by global climate change, and the incidence of sandstorms is on the rise.
Most of Mongolia's land is covered by grasslands, mountains in the north and west, and the Gobi Desert in the south.
In the southern region of the country, many provinces bear the word "Gobi" in their names.
On the whole, Zhang Xiaoli pointed out that the main source of sand and dust in Mongolia, the more than 390,000 square kilometers of land in the south, is not mainly due to human activities in recent years, which have destroyed the surface and let the sand become active, in fact, there are few people here, and the desert and the Gobi are there.
Mongolia is located in the middle and high latitudes of the Inner Asian steppe, the whole territory of the inland far away from the sea, belongs to the temperate continental climate zone.
To add insult to injury, natural geographical location, global climate change and other factors have made the natural conditions of the region even worse.
In November 2020, a paper published in the journal Science, “East Asia ’ s Inland Climate Becomes Hot and Dry Beyond the Critical Point, ” mentioned that the past 20 years have witnessed unprecedented“ heatwave – drought ” concurrent phenomena in the interior of East Asia centered in Mongolia, which clearly goes beyond the scope of natural change and forms a vicious circle: soil drying accelerates local high temperatures, which exacerbates soil moisture decline.
Over the past 80 years, the average temperature in Mongolia has risen by about 2.25 degrees Celsius, far higher than the global average temperature rise, and the annual precipitation in Mongolia has decreased by 7% -8% during the same period, especially in the warm seasons such as spring and summer.
Up to now, 76.8 per cent of Mongolia's total land area has suffered from various degrees of desertification and the situation is still deteriorating.
According to official data, the past 10 years have been the hottest decade the country has experienced in nearly 80 years, with drought and heat causing 1,244 large and small rivers and lakes to dry up or stop flowing.
However, on April 14, at the sixth assessment report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), IPCC expert Zhai Panmao said that the current research on critical points and irreversible phenomena is far from enough, and to reach conclusions, different researchers and different methods are required to provide multiple evidence from observations, mechanisms, models and other aspects.
Zhai Panmao said that although Mongolia's dry heat conditions have long existed and intensified, which will affect the land vegetation cover, in the context of climate warming, there is still a trend of increasing vegetation and precipitation in many middle and high latitudes.
In 1998, the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was established to provide scientific support for the development of natural resources, ecological restoration and environmental management in international arid zones.
Li Shengyu is a senior engineer of the Institute, and from 2018 to 2020, he led an international scientific and technological cooperation project called “Sino-Mongolian Grassland Desertification Control Technical Cooperation Research and Demonstration ”, and visited Mongolia many times in 2019 to carry out research and experimental research.
He told China News Weekly that the northern part of Mongolia's southern Gobi is a grassland belt, which is greatly affected by global climate change and local economic development activities.
He pointed out that the deterioration of grasslands in these areas is very obvious, and the center of gravity of desertification has shifted northward, adding to the sand and dust sources in Mongolia, which is a new problem.
Mongolia is the second largest landlocked country in the world, after Kazakhstan, but with a population of 3.3 million, it is the least densely populated sovereign country in the world. Livestock production accounts for about 90 per cent of the country's agricultural production, and one in four Mongolians is engaged in animal husbandry, a higher proportion than any other industry in Mongolia.
At the end of 2019, the International Monetary Fund pointed out that Mongolia ’ s livestock industry, once the main engine of the national economy, is now facing the threat of climate change and overgrazing.
Since 1990, the number of livestock has tripled to 70 million, far exceeding the carrying capacity of the land.
The agency ’ s study also noted that overgrazing in Mongolia is linked to soaring global cashmere prices, as well as a lack of appropriate land-use regulations or pasture management standards.
Nomadic herding was originally a kind of human activity with a relatively small burden on grasslands, but Li Shengyu said that driven by the international cashmere trade demand, now the local not only overgrazed, but also preferred to breed goats, goats such animals will eat grass close to the ground, and even the grass roots will be planed out to eat, the damage to the grassland is relatively large.
On the other hand, unlike domestic grazing regulations, Mongolia's rangelands are communal, which leads to a "tragedy of the commons", where everyone wants to make the most of the rangelands, but does not care about their sustainable use.
Mining is another issue.
Mongolia is rich in mineral and coal resources and is known as "the Saudi Arabia of the coal industry".
Relying on mining production and investment from foreign mining companies, Mongolia achieved unprecedented economic growth and entered the ranks of middle-income countries in 2012.
By 2019, mining output value accounted for 23.8% of Mongolia's GDP, and mineral exports accounted for more than 70% of the total, with a trend of increasing year by year.
Li Shengyu said that many of the coal mines are located in Gobi in southern Mongolia and are open pit mines.
Open pit mining needs to peel off the surface of the soil layer, the mining range is very large, and there are not many environmental protection measures, once encountered dry, windy weather, dig out of the dust flying with the wind.
Moreover, mining changes conditions such as groundwater or rivers, exacerbating the deterioration of the grassland growing environment.
Since 2007, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has been cooperating with Mongolia on desertification control. Since 2013, the former State Forestry Administration has organized research institutes such as the Institute of Desertification of the Chinese Academy of Forestry to organize desertification control seminars for Mongolia.
"Due to a variety of factors, the dust storm in Mongolia has entered a new active period, which requires a lot of research in the future."
Huang Ning, a professor at the School of Civil Engineering and Mechanics of Lanzhou University and director of the Key Laboratory of Disaster and Environmental Mechanics of the Ministry of Education in the West, said that Mongolia's lack of field research stations, monitoring equipment and instruments is not conducive to the development of research.
Zhang Xiaoyi, a United Nations expert who went to Mongolia to investigate, said that the China Meteorological Administration and Mongolia have cooperated for a long time to help each other build an observatory, but there is no way to invest people, money and materials, and the observatory is in a very loose state.
Fighting dust storms: What can humans do?
Han Bin, a 32-year-old Beijinger, also noted that in earlier years, Beijing was rarely disturbed by dust storms in spring.
He attributed the good weather to China's achievements in combating desertification.
In the past two or three years, when Beijing and other cities have been hit by dust storms again, some people have asked: Why have the trees planted over the years not been able to stop the dust storms?
In 1978, the Three North Sheltered Forest Project, named the "Great Green Wall", began to be implemented, becoming a landmark project in China to prevent wind and control desertification.
The area covers a total area of 1.49 million square kilometers, accounting for about 85 percent of the country's sandy land.
Since then, China has successively launched key ecological projects such as returning farmland to forests and grasslands, natural forest protection, and management of wind and sand sources in Beijing and Tianjin; at the legal level, the Law of the People's Republic of China on Prevention and Control of Desertification has been promulgated, and policies such as subsidies for sandy land sealing and protection areas, compensation for ecological public welfare forests, and subsidies for grassland ecological protection have been formulated.
"The Chinese government is one of the countries in the world that have been affected by the sandstorms," Li said. "China has invested a lot of money to set up a number of professional management bodies, and a large number of scientists are engaged in scientific research."
Zhang also pointed out that compared with neighboring countries, China's efforts and contributions are the most, which should be affirmed.
In terms of desertification control, China can be called a global benchmark.
However, several experts interviewed pointed out that the extent to which desertification control has slowed down dust storm pollution requires more careful analysis.
In the Taklamakan Desert, the largest desert in China, a study published in 2022 by Huo Wen, a researcher at the Institute of Desert Meteorology of the China Meteorological Administration, found that in the central area of the desert, artificial green space can reduce the near-ground wind speed by about 70%.
In addition, the vegetation root system makes it easier for the soil to retain water, reduce evaporation, and produce a "water lock" function, making the ground sand difficult to pick up.
However, when the cold air from Mongolia swept south with sand and dust to China, he said, the air affected thousands of meters high, and its height was no longer blocked by the Three North Shelters.
Two or three hundred meters high shelterbelts can block part of the surface of the coarse sand, but far from blocking the sand particles that are carried high by the wind.
However, the protective forest system can reduce the "sand and dust relay" on the sand and dust transmission path, which is still of great ecological significance.
In addition to monitoring sandstorm weather, Wu Chenglai also reviewed and analyzed the evolution of sandstorms to understand some of the major sandstorm events, the main drivers, etc. Since 2000, his team has analyzed the reasons for the decline in sandstorm activity in East Asia between 2001 and 2017.
The study, published in Nature Communications in 2022, shows that weakening surface wind speeds contributed 46% of the decline in sand and dust activity during this period, with soil wetting and vegetation greening contributing the remaining 54%.
Among them, the contribution rate of vegetation greening is about 30%, including human tree planting and grass planting projects, but also including naturally growing vegetation.
In this sense, human desertification control projects can play a much smaller role than the impact of changes in meteorological factors.
Some people believe that more fine sand and dust from a large number of dry lakes and desertified land is a more important source of sand and dust, but it has not been given due attention and actively managed.
However, Zhang Xiaoli said that these finer sand and dust sands are relatively large, but their proportion is small compared to the traditional sand and dust source areas of the desert.
Flux refers to the amount of sand that can be released into the atmosphere per unit of time and per unit area.
Unlike the public's optimism, many scholars engaged in desertification control and sandstorm research have emphasized that people are small in the face of sandstorm problems and it is impossible to eradicate sandstorms.
Compared to other air pollution, dust storm weather is a natural dominant force phenomenon, it has existed for millions of years, if not for human likes and dislikes, it is difficult to even be called a "disaster".
As some scholars have pointed out, about 28 million tons of sand and dust from the Sahara desert in Africa cross the sea to South America every year, bringing about 22,000 tons of phosphorus fertilizer to the Amazon rainforest, thus nourishing and compensating for the nutrients lost in the tropical rainforests.
Compared with the vast desert and Gobi area, China's efforts over the past decades have been "green", but only a very small part.
According to an official circular issued by the State Forestry and Grassland Administration in March this year, the area of desertification and desertification in China has been continuously reduced in recent years, and the work of preventing and controlling desertification has achieved good results.
However, China still has 2.5737 million square kilometers of desertified land and 1.6878 million square kilometers of sandy land, especially the large area of desert and the Gobi has always been a huge and permanent source of sand and dust.
“In general, on the edge of the desert, close to the river, we do some governance work, but this is 6% to 7% of the more than 1.7 million square kilometers of desert. ”
"The vast majority of deserts are in extremely arid areas, with average annual rainfall of tens of millimeters or less, and the human impact is very weak," Zhang told China News Weekly.
On the other hand, some unscientific and irrational behaviors in the process of combating desertification have counteracted the ecological environment.
Xue Xian, a researcher at the Northwest Institute of Ecological Environment and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Desert and Desertification Research Office, said in an interview with the media that in recent years, protective forests have been degraded and killed because of their single vegetation and high density.
In an interview with China Newsweek, a scholar engaged in desertification control at the grassroots level said that in reality, there are still many problems in the work of desertification control, "we may still overemphasize the new area of desertification control and afforestation, and even turn it into an administrative indicator."
Zhang said that in the scientific community, the research on sandstorms has shifted from scientific understanding to how to prevent and control sandstorms, especially in forecasting and early warning.
In his view, in the future, humans can change relatively limited, and more accurate forecasts and warnings can slow down the damage of dust storms to society and individuals.
"The sandstorm is a large-scale land-surface process, involving climate change and regional anthropogenic activities," said the researchers, who have been engaged in the work for many years, hope that the public will not completely deny China's achievements in combating desertification because of the repeated visits of sandstorms.
Perhaps, when the next sandstorm comes, we will think: How can we better prevent and control sand?
And what ordinary people can do, may just close the doors and windows, reduce the door, wear a good mask.
(Liu Song and Han Bing are aliases.)
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