Identifying the dominant local factors of 2000–2019 changes in dust loading over East Asia

East Asian dust aerosols play a vital role in the local and regional climate through its direct, indirect, and semidirect effects, but the dominant factors affecting the interannual variation of dust aerosols over East Asia and their regional differences remain unclear. This study verified the accuracy of MEERA-2 dust data in East Asia, analyzed the interannual trends of dust in East Asia from 2000 to 2019 using the MERRA-2 dust column mass density (DCMD) and identified the dominant factors affecting the interannual variation during the dusty season (March–July) by developing the regional multiple linear regression models, combined with correlation and partial correlation analysis. The comparison with the dust index (DI) calculated from ground-based observations of dust events frequency indicated that MERRA-2 DCMD exhibited high spatial agreement (R > 0.8) with ground-based observations in most regions (especially in the dust source region of North China). The trend analysis revealed that DCMD in East Asia decreased significantly after 2000, particularly in the dusty season (March–July). These significant decreases were generally highly correlated with increases in normalized differential vegetation index (NDVI), volumetric soil moisture (VSM), and precipitation (PPT) and with decreases in wind speed (WS). Furthermore, WS dominated the interannual variation in the dust concentration over the East Asian dust source regions and their downstream. By contrast, PPT, through its wet deposition effect, dominated the variation in the rest of the regions away from the dust source regions. The study findings may help clarify the associations between local meteorological and surface factors and long-term variations in dust aerosols over East Asia. [Display omitted] •MERRA-2 DCMD has a high accuracy in East Asia in 2000-2018.•Significant increases in NDVI, SM and PPT and significant decrease in WS all contributed to the decrease in DCMD.•WS dominated the variation of dust over the East Asian dust source regions and their downstream.•PPT dominated the variation of dust in the rest of the regions away from the dust source regions.