Open AccessExtensive dust outbreaks following the morning inversion breakup in the Taklimakan Desert
Author(s) -
Tsunematsu Nobumitsu,
Sato Tomonori,
Kimura Fujio,
Kai Kenji,
Kurosaki Yasunori,
Nagai Tomohiro,
Zhou Hongfei,
Mikami Masao
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2005jd005994
Subject(s) - breakup , geology , storm , atmospheric sciences , diurnal cycle , dust storm , plume , inversion (geology) , environmental science , climatology , structural basin , meteorology , geomorphology , oceanography , geography , physics , mechanics
Extensive dust outbreaks occurred on the late morning of 26 March 2004 in the Taklimakan Desert. An image by the satellite AQUA shows the dust outbreaks as an enormous dust storm extending as far as 1000 km in the direction of east and west across the desert. A ground‐based lidar was successful in observing the dust storm. Values of the backscattering ratio from near the ground surface to an altitude of 6 km above sea level rapidly increased as soon as the dust storm covered the lidar observation site. Numerical experiments including a diffusion experiment revealed that strong westerly winds appeared at the surface level following the morning inversion breakup and then induced the dust outbreaks. The nocturnal inversion layer prevented the strong westerly winds from spreading to the surface level until the breakup. Notable nocturnal inversion is considered to be easily formed in the Taklimakan Desert because of its deep basin topography which can accumulate cold air masses. These results show the stability of the planetary boundary layer to be an extremely important factor in dust outbreaks especially in basin deserts, in addition to the intensity of surface winds. This implies that the occurrence frequency of dust storms in the desert has a diurnal cycle.