Variations in Aerosol Optical Properties over East Asian Dust Storm Source Regions and Their Climatic Factors during 2000-2021

The East Asian dust storms occur in western and northern China, and southern Mongolia every year, particularly in spring. In this study, we use satellite aerosol products to demonstrate the spatial and temporal variation in aerosol optical depth (AOD) from MODIS, and the absorbing aerosol index (AAI) from TOMS and OMI, over the main dust storm source regions (MDSR), and to investigate their relationship to vegetation coverage (NDVI), soil properties (surface soil moisture content and soil temperature 0-10 cm underground), and climatic factors (surface wind speed, air temperature at 2 m above the ground, and precipitation) in spring for the period of 2000-2021. Compared with dust storm occurrence frequency (DSF) observed at surface stations, MODIS AOD, TOMS AAI, and OMI AAI showed consistent spatial distributions and seasonal variations with DSF in the MDSR, with correlation coefficients of 0.88, 0.55, and 0.88, respectively. The results showed that AOD and AAI over the MDSR decreased during 2000-2005, 2006-2017, and 2000-2021, but increased during 2017-2021.The improvements in vegetation coverage and soil moisture together with favorable climatic factors (the increase in temperature and precipitation and the decrease in surface wind speed) resulted in the decreasing trend of AOD and AAI during 2000-2005, 2006-2017, and the entire period of 2000-2021. Conversely, the increase in surface wind speed, the decrease in temperature and the low soil moisture in 2018 and 2020 were the reasons for the increases in AOD and AAI over the MDSR during 2017-2021. The combination effects of surface wind, temperature, soil moisture, and vegetation coverage would determine DSF, AOD, and AAI, in the end, under global climate change.

Automated summary

This study uses satellite data to analyze the spatial and temporal variations of East Asian dust storms and investigate their relationship with vegetation coverage, soil properties, and climatic factors. The results show that improvements in vegetation coverage and favorable climatic factors lead to a decrease in the dust storm index, while increases in surface wind speed, decreases in temperature, and low soil moisture result in an increase in the index.