Asian Dust
Yellow sand (also asian dust , yellow dust , yellow sand , yellow wind ) is a seasonal meteorological phenomenon that sporadically affects large parts of East Asia during the spring months . The dust comes from the deserts of Mongolia, northern China, and Kazakhstan, where fast surface winds and strong sandstorms lift up thick clouds of dry fine dust particles. These clouds are then carried east by the prevailing winds and pour over China, North and South Korea, Japan and parts of the Russian Far East. Occasionally, the airborne particles are carried eastward to regions much further away, such as the United States, where significant concentrations affect air quality.
In the past decade this phenomenon has become a serious problem due to industrial pollution and increased desert advancement in China, as well as the drying up of the Aral region due to the overexploitation of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers .
reasons
In recent years there has been considerable environmental degradation in China as a result of overgrazing, massive industrial development combined with a lack of enforcement of environmental standards and extensive coal burning without adequate filtering. In Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan , failed agricultural policies left the Aral Sea, which was largely dry .
Global warming, like El Niño, play a role in Asian sandstorms because ice sheets that would form in winter could keep the dust from being blown up from the bottom.
In China, the advancement of the desert has accelerated, 1,740,000 km² of land has dried up. This affects the lives of 400 million people and causes immediate economic losses of 54 billion yuan ($ 7 billion) per year, SFA figures show. These numbers may be a significant understatement because they only include direct impacts, without including health, cleansing, and other secondary impacts, as well as impacts on neighboring states.
Pollutants and composition
Sulfur (a component of acid rain ), soot, ash, carbon monoxide and other toxic pollutants including heavy metals (such as mercury , cadmium , chromium , arsenic , lead , zinc and copper ) and other carcinogenic substances are often part of dust storms, as are viruses, Bacteria, fungi, pesticides , antibiotics , asbestos , herbicides , plastic components, combustion residues and hormone mimickers phthalates . Although scientists knew that intercontinental clouds of dust could carry bacteria and viruses, "most people assumed that the ultraviolet light from the sun would sterilize these clouds," explains microbiologist Dale W. Griffin. "We now find out that this is not the truth is. "
An analysis of "Asian dust" carried out in China in 2001 showed that it contained high concentrations of silicon (24 to 32%), aluminum (5.9 to 7.4%), calcium (6.2 to 12%), and contain iron . Numerous toxic substances were also present and it is believed that heavier materials (such as toxic mercury and cadmium from coal burning) settle out of the clouds closer to the origin.
However, Sarah O'Hara of the University of Nottingham in England, who also writes for the Lancet , says that doesn't mean the effects get worse the closer you get to the source. People further away from the source of the dust are more often exposed to almost invisible, fine dust particles that they can unknowingly breathe deeply into their lungs, while coarse dust is too large to be inhaled deeply. If inhaled, the dust can cause long-term scarring of lung tissue, as well as lung cancer and other lung diseases.
An American study that analyzed the composition of dust deposits over Colorado also points to the presence of carbon monoxide, which may have been absorbed by the clouds while traveling through industrialized regions of Asia.
Effects
Areas affected by the dust suffer from reduced visibility and the dust is known to cause a variety of health problems, including dry throats and asthma in even otherwise healthy individuals . It is often advised to avoid or minimize activities outside of the home depending on the strength of the storm. The storm can be fatal for those already suffering from asthma or respiratory diseases. The storm was found to have increased the death rate by 1.7% in one of the affected regions.
Although sand itself is not necessarily harmful to plants, the storms destroy farmland by degrading the soil due to the sulfur emissions and the resulting acid rain. Deposits of ash, soot and heavy metals, as well as potentially dangerous biomaterials, also contaminate the dust-covered soil, including cultivated areas, bodies of water, etc. The sandstorms have a particularly severe impact on the animal kingdom by destroying forage plants and habitats and toxic metals impairing reproduction. The range of vision is reduced, which leads to failures in flights, traffic and other activities outside the home. This leads to a considerable loss of economic activity. It is reported from Japan that washed clothes turn yellow.
The Korea Times reported that it took 3 million won , 6,000 gallons of water, and 6 hours of labor to clean just one jumbo jet.
Strength and countermeasures
On April 3, 2007, Shanghai reported fine dust levels of 500 micrograms per cubic meter of air. In the US, a value of 300 is considered dangerous and anything over 200 is "unhealthy". 2007 seems to be the worst recorded year so far.
In recent years, South Korea and the People's Republic of China have made efforts in the root cause areas. However, this did not affect the problem in any significant way. In April 2006, South Korean meteorologists reported the worst yellow sand storm in four years. Japan has made money, equipment and know-how available in China for the construction of sulfur filters for coal-fired power plants. Even so, only a very small percentage of power plants have carbon filtration installed.
With international support, China has also taken steps to plant trees in desert areas. The target is 12 billion trees. However, the winds are so strong that in some places the trees simply fall over or are buried in the sand.
However, the problem does not seem to be resolved yet. On March 20 and 21, 2010, South Korea reported a record high dust concentration since records began. The peak value was 2,684 micrograms per cubic meter.
Local names
Yellow dust is known by a variety of local names, each of which means "yellow dust" or "yellow sand":
- "Huangsha" (黄砂) in Chinese
- "Kōsa" (黄砂) in Japanese
- "Hwangsa" (황사, 黃沙 / 黃砂) in Korean
- "Hoàng Sa" (黄砂) or "Bão cát vàng" in Vietnamese
Historical reports
Some of the earliest written accounts of dust storms are recorded in ancient Chinese literature. (Goudie and Middleton, The changing frequency of dust storms through time, Climate Change 20: 197-225 1992). It is believed that the first Chinese report of a dust storm can be found in the Zhushu Jinian (Chinese: 竹 书 纪年; English: the Bamboo Annals; German: die Bambusannalen). The report states: In the fifth year of Di Xin (1150 BC, Di xin was the epoch name of King Di Xin of the Shang Dynasty) it rained dust in Bo (Bo is a place in Henan Province in China).
The first mention of a sandstorm event in Korea was in AD 174 during the Silla Dynasty . The dust was known as "Woo-To" and was believed to be the creation of an angry god who sent the dust down instead of rain or snow.
Specific reports relating to yellow dust in Korea also exist from the Baekje , Goguryeo , and Joseon periods.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Operation blitzkrieg against desert storm
- ↑ a b Janet Raloff: Ill Winds - Dust storms ferry toxic agents between countries and even continents ( Memento from March 19, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ ::: The Korea Times :::
- ^ CCTV International
- ^ South Korea chokes on "yellow dust" . In: Reuters World News . April 10, 2006. Retrieved on April 10, 2006. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ The Korea Times, March 21, 2010: Korean Peninsula Blanketed by Worst Yellow Dust , accessed March 23, 2010
- ↑ Youngsin Chun and Soon-Ung Park: From Historical Records to Early Warning System opf Asian Dust (Hwangsa) in Korea ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Asian Dust in Korea accessed April 9, 2006
- Ostapuk, Paul Asian Dust Clouds accessed April 9, 2006
- Szykman, Jim et al. Impact of April 2001 Asian Dust Event on Particulate Matter Concentrations in the United States (PDF; 2.8 MB)
- Kwon Ho-Jang et al. Effects of the Asian Dust Events on Daily Mortality in Seoul, Korea
- Zhang, XY et al. Characterization of Soil Dust Aerosol in China, 2001 (PDF; 3.0 MB)
- Carbon Monoxide Measurements in the Mongolian Desert Dust Cloud at Boulder
- The Bibliography of Aeolian Research
- Youngsin Chun and Soon-Ung Park, From Historical Records to Early Warning System opf Asian Dust (Hwangsa) in Korea