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Climatology of yellow sand (Asian sand, Asian dust or Kosa) in East Asia

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Abstract

In order to study climatology of yellow sand (Asian sand, Asian dust or Kosa) in East Asia, secular fluctuation in China, Korea and Japan in the recent 30 years was presented. The number of days with sand-dust storm at five stations in China—Hotan, Zhangye, Minqin, Jurh and Bei**g, decreases a lot at the former three stations, but changed little at the latter two stations. Suggesting that the recent global warming is more evident in **njiang and Gansu, where the frequency of cold air invasions from the higher latitudes is decreasing. But, the eastern parts of Mongolia, inner Mongolia, and North China encounter stronger cyclones in early spring as a result of global warming. These cyclones bring cold air from higher latitudes, causing severe dust storms. Secular variation in the annual days with sand-dust storms in China and Kosa days in Korea and Japan show a parallel change with higher frequency from 1975 to 1985. This may be related to the higher frequency of La Nina years. However, different tendency was shown in the period from 1986 to 1996. Since 1996 or 1997, a sharp increase is clear, which may be caused by the developed cyclones in East Asia as well as human activities, and stronger land degradation under La Nina conditions. Anomalies of the total number of stations with Kosa days were discussed in accordance with some synoptic meteorological conditions such as the differences between Siberian anticyclone and Aleutian cyclone center at 500 hPa level during the previous winter.

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  1. Tsukuba University, 154-0012, Setagayaku Tokyo, Japan

    Yoshino Masatoshi

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  1. Yoshino Masatoshi
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Correspondence to Yoshino Masatoshi.

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Masatoshi, Y. Climatology of yellow sand (Asian sand, Asian dust or Kosa) in East Asia. Sci. China Ser. D-Earth Sci. 45 (Suppl 1), 59–70 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02878390

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02878390

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