Analyses of spring mean circulations for major and minor dust storm years in China–Mongolia area
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To better understand the dust storm (hereafter DS) inducing circulation in the China–Mongolia (CM) DS activity area, the spring mean circulation features and differences on lower levels in three subregions of the CM DS area for the major- and minor-DS years have, as a whole (not partly), been analyzed, utilizing the National Centers for Environmental Prediction and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) reanalyzed gridded data, the observed DS frequency data in the CM area, and the composite analysis method. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Judging from the differences in the DS-inducing systems, dust origins, paths of invading cold air, and main DS-strike areas, the whole CM DS area is roughly divided into the three subregions: the East-, Middle- and West-CM subregions (in this paper, referred to as E-, M-, and W-CM). (2) In major DSs during spring over the E-CM, the middle- and lower-level troughs or cyclones over the Japan Sea and northeastern China (NEC) dominate. The invading cold air along the northeastern (NE) or north by east (NE) path often causes the DS in the E-CM region. But nearly the opposite is true in minor DS during spring in E-CM. (3) In the major DS during spring over the M-CM region, the Mongolian troughs or cyclones are the main DS-inducing systems. The strong invading cold air along the northwestern (NW)- or north by west (Nw) path causes the DSs in the M-CM region. (4) In the major DSs during spring over the W-CM region, the South Xinjiang heat lows prevail, the intruding cold air has a western path, and creates the DSs in South Xinjiang. (5) In the past 50 years, the DSs over the M-CM region have had the most severe impact on the preceding three subregions of the CM DS area. Overall, DS activities over all of three regions of the CM area decreased in the past (particularly, over M- and W-CM regions since the mid-1980s. But there existed a short and sudden increasing in E-CM in the years 2000–2002. (6) It is circulation changes and desertification evolutions that cause the yearly and decadal changes of DS in CM area, especially the former. With the backdrop of global warming in the future, perhaps the decreased DS activities over M- and W-CM will persist for some time again, and special attention should be paid to ones over E-CM or to the individual DS events over M- and W-CM.
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