Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
672546 Particuology 2008 6 Pages PDF
Abstract
Using the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) monthly aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 500 nm data from 1980 to 2001 in north China, the spatial and temporal variations of AOD were examined. Seasonal AODs in Taklimakan Desert were 0.69 and 0.44 in spring and summer, respectively, which were mainly due to frequent occurrences of dust events in this region. Dust activities in spring also led to high aerosol loading in Gobi Desert and in northeast China where spring AODs were 0.33 and 0.29, respectively. Heavily impacted by events such as volcano eruption, forest fires and extraordinary dust storms, AODs showed large inter-annual variations. A decreasing tendency in AOD was observed in north China during 1980-1991, though a reverse tendency was revealed during 1997-2001, especially for spring AOD in northeast China. Further study is required to figure out how much human activities have contributed to the AOD tendency in north China.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Chemical Engineering Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes
Authors
, ,