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Arid Land Geography ›› 2021, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (5): 1339-1349.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000–6060.2021.05.15

• Earth Surface Process • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Variation characteristics of spring sandstorm and its typical case analysis in the middle east of Hexi Corridor

YANG Mei1,2(),LI Yanying1,2(),ZHANG Chunyan1,YANG Jiping3,LUO Xiaoling1,NIE Xin2   

  1. 1. Wuwei Meteorological Bureau, Wuwei 733000, Gansu, China
    2. Lanzhou Institute of Arid Meteorology, China Meteorological Administration, Lanzhou 730020, Gansu, China
    3. Minqin Meteorological Bureau, Minqin 733300, Gansu, China
  • Received:2020-08-18 Revised:2020-11-04 Online:2021-09-25 Published:2021-09-22
  • Contact: Yanying LI E-mail:wwqxjym@163.com;lyyqxj@163.com

Abstract:

The middle east of the Hexi Corridor is a serious disaster area with a high incidence of spring sandstorms in China. Over the past 40 years, economic losses have exceeded RMB 15×108 Yuan, and nearly 100 people have died. To analyze the laws of time variation and improve forecasting and early warning and combine them with meteorological, dynamics, and statistical methods, this paper used the ground observation meteorological sandstorm data during 1961-2019 and meteorological data of two sandstorms in May 2019. Data were obtained to characterize daily changes and forecast the focus of spring sandstorms in the region. The results show that (1) the number of spring sandstorms in the middle east of Hexi has declined over the past 60 years, particularly in the 1980s. Furthermore, the intensity of sandstorms changed significantly between day and night. Wind speeds during the day were increasing, and since the 1980s there were more common sandstorms than strong sandstorms, and all high-incidence areas were in Minqin. (2) When the sandstorms crossed the border, the main wind directions of the three stations were the same, and they were concentrated between the northwest wind and the north wind. The strongest intense sandstorms appeared at 00:00-01:00 and 18:00-19:00, and the strongest general sandstorms occurred at 08:00-09:00. (3) The two sandstorms that occurred in the afternoon and night of May 2019 were comparatively analyzed. The afternoon process had strong winds and caused disasters, and the night process was stronger and longer. The moderate and low synoptic weather conditions of the two sandstorms were basically the same. Both appeared downstream of the negative center of horizontal helicity, with significant ground-air temperature differences. However, the synoptic circulations of 500 hPa were different. In the afternoon process, there was a transverse trough that turned into a vertical trough. Finally, daily variations in temperature and wind speed were more significant with unstable stratification. Downward upper air momentum and low maximum wind speeds occurred at heights near the surface. The night-time process was influenced mainly by unstable trough development and the cold front at the bottom of the Mongolia cyclone, with strong vertical ascending movements but less vertical wind shear. (4) Spring sandstorms in the middle east of Hexi Corridor were related not only to large-scale circulation conditions but also to physical parameters such as vertical velocity, horizontal helicity, highest wind speed, daily variation of surface temperature, humidity and wind, unstable parameters, and boundary layer elements.

Key words: spring sandstorms, variation characteristics, forecast point, middle east of Hexi Corridor