Prolonged Drought Enhances Northwest China Dust Storm Activity. Issue 20 (25th October 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Jin; Xu, Hai; Lan, Jianghu; Cheng, Peng; Liu, Bin; Liu, Xingxing; Zhou, Kang'en; Song, Yunping; Shi, Siwei; Wang, Jing; Zeng, Fangming; Liu, Congqiang
• Is Part Of: Journal of geophysical research. Volume 127:Issue 20(2022)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2022-10-25
• Subjects: dust storm -- Lake Hurleg -- Lake Qinghai -- prolonged drought -- human activity; Atmospheric physics -- Periodicals; Geophysics -- Periodicals; 551.5
• DOI: 10.1029/2022JD037088
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2169-897X

Abstract

Abstract: The patterns and forcing mechanism of dust storms in arid Northwest China remain unclear and debated due to lack of reliable long‐term geological records. Here we present a ∼1, 600‐year dust storm history in Northwest China based on the sedimentary coarse fraction (>63 μm) retrieved from Lake Hurleg and Lake Qinghai on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau (NETP). The NETP dust storm history, which agrees well with those from North China, shows two prolonged intervals of high dust storm occurrences during the Medieval Warm Period and the past century, and two prolonged weakened dust storm intervals from ∼400 to 700 CE and during the Little Ice Age. The temporal variation in NETP dust storm activities is out‐of‐phase with moisture records over central Asia, with enhanced dust storms corresponding to warm‐dry intervals, and vice versa. The prolonged centennial warm‐dry climates over arid Northwest China to arid central Asia could have led to decreased soil moisture, deteriorated vegetation cover, and increased dust particle supply and dust storm activities; while the prolonged centennial cold‐wet climates could have increased soil moisture, vegetation cover, and decreased dust storm activities. We contend that whilst human impact could be responsible for the obviously increased eolian dust flux in the most recent century, it is most likely that the prolonged natural hydroclimatic conditions regulate the global dust storm activity before the Anthropocene. Key Points: A ∼1, 600‐year dust storm history over Northwest China was reconstructed based on sedimentary grainsize from Lake Hurleg and Lake Qinghai Prolonged drought dominates dust storm occurrence by decreasing vegetation cover and increasing dust‐particle supply on centennial timescale Natural climate variability rather than human activity could have shaped the Northwest China dust storm activities before the Anthropocene