Variation characteristics of dust in the Taklimakan Desert

Dust events frequently occur in Tarim Basin (TB), China. However, research is scarce on the variation characteristics of sand-dust, floating-dust, sand-blowing, and sandstorms in the mountains, oases, and deserts in TB. Therefore, we conducted in-depth studies on the distributions and variations of dust events in TB. The results indicate that dust events tend to increase from south to north. The yearly sand-dust event occurrence rate trend is deserts > oases > mountainous regions. Spring events of sand-dust, floating-dust, sand-blowing, and sandstorms account for 35.9%, 36.0%, 38.5%, and 47.1% and summer events for 33.6%, 33.5%, 43.8%, and 60.3% of the total annual average sand-dust, floating-dust, sand-blowing, and sandstorm days, respectively. From 1961 to 2015, most stations (annual average > 30 stations) showed a downward linear trend in sand-dust, floating-dust, sand-blowing, and sandstorms in TB. All types of sand-dust events in mountains and oases decreased substantially after 1975–1978. In spring and summer, the downward dust trends are the most obvious, which the largest annual average downward linear trend rates of floating-dust, sand-blowing, and sandstorms are − 0.33 d/yr (QM station), − 0.21 d/yr (TGLK station), and − 11 d/yr (KP station), respectively, in spring, and − 0.28 d/yr (QM station), − 0.17 d/yr (TGLK station), and − 0.14 d/yr (KP station), respectively, in summer. It is found that the decreasing and increasing trends of floating-dust are the most frequent among sand-dust events. There are a significant positive correlation between wind speed and relative humidity in mountains and a significant positive correlation between wind speed in oases.