Environmental and Geochemical Characterization of Dust Sources in China: Towards Developing the Asian Dust Databank

The effect of wind-blown mineral dust on health, environment and climate depends on the amount and the physical and chemical properties of atmospheric dust that are largely controlled by dust sources. This study presents the comparative characterization of individual dust source regions in China based on environmental, geochemical, pedological and climatological data. These data were incorporated into the Asian Dust Databank which we have been developing for the past years. The Databank has been specifically designed to record diverse classes of data relevant to dust production, transport, and effects in the atmosphere. We identified three broad types of dust sources: deserts in dry agricultural areas, gobi-deserts and deserts located on the plateaus, and deserts and gobi-deserts located in topographical laws. To guide the characterization of dust sources, we introduced an integrated set of factors: the frequency of dust storm occurrence, surface wind speed, aridity and precipitation, morphology and composition of surface soil. We also estimated the strength of sources in terms of dust emission rates on the climatic (30-year mean) scale. A detailed analysis of commonalities and specific features of individual dust sources will be presented.