Regional Characteristics of Dust Events in China
中国沙尘天气的区域特征

The dust events in China have been studied using the data of dust storms, wind-blown sand and floating dust from 338 observation stations selected in China from 1954 to 2000. The results are as follows: (1) In China, there are two high frequent areas of dust events, one is located in the area centered around Minfeng and Hotan in the South Xinjiang Basin, the other is situated in the area centered around Minqin and Jilantai in the Hexi Region. (2) The affected areas of dust storms can be divided into seven sub-regions, that is, North Xinjiang Region, South Xinjiang Region, Hexi Region, Qaidam Basin Region, Hetao Region, Northeastern China Region and Qinghai-Xizang Region. The area of the most frequent occurrence of dust storms and floating-dust is in South Xinjiang Region, and of wind-blown sand in the Hexi Region. The annual occurrence days of wind-blown sand in four representative regions have been increasing since 1998, but that of floating dust does not evidently reveal this phenomenon.