Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T11:00:10.009Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Relationship between the sharp decrease in dust storm frequency over East Asia and the abrupt loss of Arctic sea ice in the early 1980s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2019

Ke Shang Open the ORCID record for Ke Shang [Opens in a new window]  and
Xiaodong Liu
Ke Shang
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an710061, China University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100049, China
Xiaodong Liu*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an710061, China University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100049, China CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing100101, China
*
Author for correspondence: Xiaodong Liu, Email: liuxd@loess.llqg.ac.cn
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Based on dust storm frequency (DSF) data from the China Meteorological Administration, Arctic sea-ice concentration (SIC) data from the Hadley Centre, and atmospheric reanalysis data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), temporal variations and regime shifts of East Asian DSF and Arctic SIC during 1961–2015 are revealed, and the possible relationship between them is explored. The results show that East Asian DSF in spring is closely associated with the preceding winter SIC from the northern Greenland Sea to the Barents Sea (20° W–60° E, 74.5° N–78.5° N). In the past half-century, both East Asian DSF and Arctic SIC have shown significant declining trends, with consistent regime shifts in the early 1980s. Further statistical analyses indicate that the abrupt decrease of East Asian DSF in spring may be attributed to the concurrent sharp loss of Arctic SIC in the preceding winter. It is the loss of Arctic SIC that causes the atmospheric circulation anomalies downstream by stimulating a Rossby wave train, resulting in decelerated wind speed, dampened vertical wind shear and restrained synoptic-scale disturbances over the dust source region, eventually leading to the decline in East Asian DSF over decadal timescales.

Keywords

East Asian dust stormArctic sea ice1980s regime shiftRossby wave train
Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 157 , Special Issue 5: Asian dust from land to sea: processes, history and effect , May 2020 , pp. 729 - 740
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Årthun, M, Eldevik, T, Smedsrud, LH, Skagseth, Ø and Ingvaldsen, RB (2012) Quantifying the influence of Atlantic heat on Barents Sea ice variability and retreat. Journal of Climate 25, 4736–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernaola-Galván, P, Ivanov, PC, Nunes Amaral, LA and Stanley, HE (2001) Scale invariance in the nonstationarity of human heart rate. Physical Review Letters 87, 168105, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.168105CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bristow, CS, Hudson-Edwards, KA and Chappell, A (2010) Fertilizing the Amazon and equatorial Atlantic with West African dust. Geophysical Research Letters 37, L14807, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GL043486CrossRefGoogle Scholar
China Meteorological Administration (2017) Sand-Dust Weather Almanac 2015. p. 6. Beijing: China Meteorological Press (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Ding, R (2005) Decadal change of the spring dust storm in northwest China and the associated atmospheric circulation. Geophysical Research Letters 32, L02808, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL021561CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eady, ET (1949) Long waves and cyclone waves. Tellus 1, 33–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fan, K and Wang, H (2004) Antarctic oscillation and the dust weather frequency in North China. Geophysical Research Letters 31, L10201, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL019465CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feng, G, Zou, M, Qiao, S, Zhi, R and Gong, Z (2018) The changing relationship between the December North Atlantic Oscillation and the following February East Asian trough before and after the late 1980s. Climate Dynamics 51(11–12), 4229–42, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-018-4165-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gao, H and Li, X (2015) Influences of El Nino Southern Oscillation events on haze frequency in eastern China during boreal winters. International Journal of Climatology 35, 2682–8.Google Scholar
Gao, Y, Sun, J, Li, F, He, S, Sandven, S, Yan, Q, Zhang, Z, Lohmann, K, Keenlyside, N, Furevik, T and Suo, L (2015) Arctic sea ice and Eurasian climate: A review. Advances in Atmospheric Sciences 32, 92–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gong, DY, Mao, R and Fan, YD (2006) East Asian dust storm and weather disturbance: possible links to the Arctic Oscillation. International Journal of Climatology 26, 1379–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffin, DW (2007) Atmospheric movement of microorganisms in clouds of desert dust and implications for human health. Clinical Microbiology Review 20, 459–77.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hara, Y, Uno, I and Wang, Z (2006) Long-term variation of Asian dust and related climate factors. Atmospheric Environment 40, 6730–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
He, S, Gao, Y, Furevik, T, Wang, H and Li, F (2018) Teleconnection between sea ice in the Barents Sea in June and the Silk Road, Pacific–Japan and East Asian rainfall patterns in August. Advances in Atmospheric Sciences 35, 52–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Honda, M, Inoue, J and Yamane, S (2009) Influence of low Arctic sea‐ice minima on anomalously cold Eurasian winters. Geophysical Research Letters 36, L08707, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GL037079CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jickells, TD, An, ZS, Andersen, KK, Baker, AR, Bergametti, G, Brooks, N, Cao, JJ, Boyd, PW, Duce, RA, Hunter, KA, Kawahata, H, Kubilay, N, laRoche, J, Liss, PS, Mahowald, N, Prospero, JM, Ridgwell, AJ, Tegen, I and Torres, R (2005) Global iron connections between desert dust, ocean biogeochemistry, and climate. Science 308, 67–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kalnay, E, Kanamitsu, M, Kistler, R, Collins, W, Deaven, D, Gandin, L, Iredell, M, Saha, S, White, G, Woollen, J, Zhu, Y, Chelliah, M, Ebisuzaki, W, Higgins, W, Janowiak, J, Mo, KC, Ropelewski, C, Wang, J, Leetmaa, A, Reynolds, R, Jenne, R and Joseph, D (1996) The NCEP/NCAR 40-Year Reanalysis Project. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 77, 437–72.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kang, L, Huang, J, Chen, S and Wang, X (2016) Long-term trends of dust events over Tibetan Plateau during 1961–2010. Atmospheric Environment 125, 188–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaufman, YJ, Koren, I, Remer, LA, Rosenfeld, D and Rudich, Y (2005) The effect of smoke, dust, and pollution aerosol on shallow cloud development over the Atlantic ocean. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102, 11207–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, Y-H, Kim, M-K, Lau, WKM, Kim, K-M and Cho, C-H (2015) Possible mechanism of abrupt jump in winter surface air temperature in the late 1980s over the Northern Hemisphere. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 120, 12474–85.Google ScholarPubMed
Kohfeld, KE and Harrison, SP (2001) DIRTMAP: the geological record of dust. Earth-Science Reviews 54, 81–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, SS, Kim, SH, Jhun, JG, Ha, KJ and Seo, YW (2013) Robust warming over East Asia during the boreal winter monsoon and its possible causes. Environmental Research Letters 8, 034001, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/034001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, YG, Ho, CH, Kim, J and Kim, J (2012) Potential impacts of northeastern Eurasian snow cover on generation of dust storms in northwestern China during spring. Climate Dynamics 41, 721–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, YG, Kim, J, Ho, CH, An, SI, Cho, HK, Mao, R, Tian, B, Wu, D, Lee, JN, Kalashnikova, O, Choi, Y and Yeh, SW (2015) The effects of ENSO under negative AO phase on spring dust activity over northern China: an observational investigation. International Journal of Climatology 35, 935–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, F and Wang, HJ (2014) Autumn Eurasian snow depth, autumn Arctic sea ice cover and East Asian winter monsoon. International Journal of Climatology 34, 3616–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, JP, Curry, JA, Wang, HJ, Song, MR and Horton, RM (2012) Impact of declining Arctic sea ice on winter snowfall. PNAS 109, 4074–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liu, XD, Yin, ZY, Zhang, XY and Yang, XC (2004) Analyses of the spring dust storm frequency of northern China in relation to antecedent and concurrent wind, precipitation, vegetation, and soil moisture conditions. Journal of Geophysical Research 109, D16210, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004JD004615CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miao, JP, Wang, T, Wang, HJ, Zhu, YL and Sun, JQ (2018) Interdecadal weakening of the East Asian winter monsoon in the mid-1980s: The roles of external forcings. Journal of Climate 31, 8985–9000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakamura, H and Wallace, JM (1990) Observed changes in baroclinic wave activity during the life cycles of low-frequency circulation anomalies. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 47, 1100–16.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okin, GS, Mahowald, N, Chadwick, OA and Artaxo, P (2004) Impact of desert dust on the biogeochemistry of phosphorus in terrestrial ecosystems. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 18, GB2005, https://doi.org/10.1029/2003GB002145CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Overland, JE and Wang, M (2010) Large-scale atmospheric circulation changes are associated with the recent loss of Arctic sea ice. Tellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography 62, 1–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parkinson, CL and Comiso, JC (2013) On the 2012 record low Arctic sea ice cover: Combined impact of preconditioning and an August storm. Geophysical Research Letters 40, 1356–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petoukhov, V and Semenov, VA (2010) A link between reduced Barents-Kara sea ice and cold winter extremes over northern continents. Journal of Geophysical Research 115, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD013568CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qian, W, Quan, L and Shi, S (2002) Variations of the dust storm in China and its climatic control. Journal of Climate 15, 1216–29.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rayner, NA (2003) Global analyses of sea surface temperature, sea ice, and night marine air temperature since the late nineteenth century. Journal of Geophysical Research 108, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JD002670CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reid, PC, Hari, RE, Beaugrand, G, Livingstone, DM, Marty, C, Straile, D, Barichivich, J, Goberville, E, Adrian, R, Aono, Y, Brown, R, Foster, J, Groisman, P, Helaouet, P, Hsu, HH, Kirby, R, Knight, J, Kraberg, A, Li, J, Lo, TT, Myneni, RB, North, RP, Pounds, JA, Sparks, T, Stubi, R, Tian, Y, Wiltshire, KH, Xiao, D and Zhu, Z (2016) Global impacts of the 1980s regime shift. Global Change Biology 22, 682–703.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sato, K, Inoue, J and Watanabe, M (2014) Influence of the Gulf Stream on the Barents Sea ice retreat and Eurasian coldness during early winter. Environmental Research Letters 9, 084009, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/8/084009CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shao, Y, Wyrwoll, KH, Chappell, A, Huang, J, Lin, Z, McTainsh, GH, Mikami, M, Tanaka, TY, Wang, X and Yoon, S (2011) Dust cycle: An emerging core theme in Earth system science. Aeolian Research 2, 181–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmonds, I and Lim, E-P (2009) Biases in the calculation of Southern Hemisphere mean baroclinic eddy growth rate. Geophysical Research Letters 36, L01707, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GL036320CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Takaya, K and Nakamura, H (2001) A formulation of a phase-independent wave-activity flux for stationary and migratory quasigeostrophic eddies on a zonally varying basic flow. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 58, 608–27.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, HJ and Chen, HP (2016) Understanding the recent trend of haze pollution in eastern China: roles of climate change. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 16, 4205–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, HJ, Chen, HP and Liu, JP (2015) Arctic sea ice decline intensified haze pollution in eastern China. Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters 8, 1–9.Google Scholar
Wang, HJ and He, SP (2012) The increase of snowfall in Northeast China after the mid-1980s. Chinese Science Bulletin 58, 1350–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, N and Zhang, Y (2015) Connections between the Eurasian teleconnection and concurrent variation of upper-level jets over East Asia. Advances in Atmospheric Sciences 32, 336–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, B, Su, J and Zhang, R (2011) Effects of autumn-winter Arctic sea ice on winter Siberian High. Chinese Science Bulletin 56, 3220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, B, Wang, J and Walsh, J (2004) Possible feedback of winter sea ice in the Greenland and Barents seas on the local atmosphere. Monthly Weather Review 132, 1868–76.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, B, Zhang, R and Wang, B (2009) On the association between spring Arctic sea ice concentration and Chinese summer rainfall: a further study. Advances in Atmospheric Sciences 26, 666–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xiao, D, Li, Y, Fan, S, Zhang, R, Sun, J and Wang, Y (2014) Plausible influence of Atlantic Ocean SST anomalies on winter haze in China. Theoretical and Applied Climatology 122, 249–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, JL, He, JH and Zhao, GP (2003) Telecorrelation of Arctic sea-ice with spring sandstorm in Ningxia. Journal of Nanjing Institute of Meteorology 26, 296–307 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Yasunaka, S and Hanawa, K (2003) Regime shifts in the Northern Hemisphere SST field: Revisited in relation to tropical variations. Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan 81, 415–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeh, SW, Kang, YJ, Noh, Y and Miller, AJ (2011) The North Pacific climate transitions of the winters of 1976/77 and 1988/89. Journal of Climate 24, 1170–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yin, JH and Battisti, DS (2004) Why do baroclinic waves tilt poleward with height? Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 61, 1454–60.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yin, Y and Chen, L (2007) The effects of heating by transported dust layers on cloud and precipitation: a numerical study. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 7, 3497–505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, J, Peng, G, Huang, M and Zhang, S (2006) Are dust storm activities in North China related to Arctic ice-snow cover? Global and Planetary Change 52, 225–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, RNZ, Sun, CH and Li, WJ (2018) Relationship between the interannual variations of Arctic sea ice and summer Eurasian teleconnection and associated influence on summer precipitation over China. Chinese Journal of Geophysics 61, 91–105 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Zhao, C (2004) Relationship between climatic factors and dust storm frequency in Inner Mongolia of China. Geophysical Research Letters 31, L01103, https://doi.org/10.1029/2003GL018351CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, ZJ (2001) Blowing-sand and sand storm in China in recent 45 years. Quaternary Sciences 21, 9–17 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Zhu, C, Wang, B and Qian, W (2008) Why do dust storms decrease in northern China concurrently with the recent global warming? Geophysical Research Letters 35, L18702, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GL034886CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zou, M, Qiao, S, Feng, T, Wu, Y and Feng, G (2018) The inter-decadal change in anomalous summertime water vapour transport modes over the tropical Indian Ocean-western Pacific in the mid-1980s. International Journal of Climatology 38, 2672–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar