General, Research, Technology

The most powerful sandstorm in the last 10 years hit China and Mongolia

There is growth worldwide todayclimatic disasters. The increase in extreme weather events, researchers say, is a consequence of rapid climate change. Violent human activity has led not only to floods and severe fires - in March this year, China and Mongolia were covered by the most powerful sandstorm in a decade. And while apocalyptic photos from Beijing are on the covers of newspapers, researchers note that the intensity of sandstorms is increasing around the world, and the results of previous studies have linked the increase in sandstorms with a sudden rise in temperature on the planet's surface. In this article, we will understand how sandstorms appear and what is happening now in China and Mongolia.

Beijing is at the epicenter of a sandstorm. As if the coronavirus wasn't enough.

How do sandstorms occur?

You've probably seen on the Internetphotographs from 11 provinces of China, Beijing and Mongolia - buildings and silhouettes of people are barely visible, and passers-by hide their faces under respirators and scarves. In fact, sandstorms are more than common on our planet. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) website, sand and dust storms occur when high winds lift large amounts of sand and dust from exposed dry soils into the atmosphere.

Sandstorms occur, usually in aridand semi-arid regions affected by thunderstorms or cyclones - these lead to increased wind speeds over a large area. The wind raises a lot of sand and dust into the atmosphere, transferring them hundreds and thousands of kilometers. The main source of dust is the arid regions of China, Central Asia, North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Note that the last decade has led researchers to a more complete understanding of the impact of sandstorms on human health, the environment and climate.

The inhabitants of the Celestial Empire are hiding from the sand.

This is interesting: What was the deadliest snowstorm in history?

Scientists know, for example, that theair dust in terms of its impact on the climate is comparable to the greenhouse effect: it absorbs and scatters solar radiation, which enters the earth's atmosphere and reduces the amount that reaches the surface. By absorbing long-wave radiation reflected from the surface, the storm re-radiates it in all directions.

The worst sandstorm in the last 10 years

The worst sandstorm in ten years in March2021 covered China and neighboring Mongolia. Combined with air pollution, the storm created a toxic sandy haze that turned the sky orange and caused the horizon to disappear.

A sandstorm struck the Chinese capital inMonday morning (March 15) after a stormy wind from Mongolia blew dust from the Gobi Desert across the border. In Mongolia, 341 people went missing after a similar sandstorm swept across the country, according to The Guardian. To make matters worse, air pollution in Beijing has been on the rise in recent weeks.

Some residents of sand-covered cities come out to take memorable pictures.

“This is the most intense sandstorm with whichOur country has collided over the past 10 years, covering an incredibly wide area, ”the National Meteorological Center of China said in a statement after issuing a weather warning.

More than 400 flights to and from Beijing have been canceled,and authorities ordered residents not to leave their homes, although many ventured out to take stunning pictures of the city engulfed in thick orange dust, Sky News reported.

To keep abreast of the latest news from the world of science and high technology, subscribe to our news in Google News.

Sandstorms are not uncommon in Beijing and NorthChina due to their close proximity to the Gobi Desert. In the 1950s, deforestation and soil erosion, especially in the north, caused more frequent and intense sandstorms. In the past, forests on the Mongolian border have served as a natural buffer against sand, but a massive tree planting project, begun in the 1970s, has helped counteract the damage.

Cars move on a road during a sandstorm in Beijing, March 15, 2021.

The number of days the sand takes annuallyhitting Beijing has dropped from 26 days in the 1950s to just three days in 2010, making sandstorms like this more visible, according to Bloomberg. but climate change led to increased wind, which in the future can significantly aggravate sandstorms.

Beijing and other Chinese cities are facing appalling levels of air pollution due to their dependence on coal energy, population growth and increased car traffic.

During the current sandstorm, the level of solidparticles of 10 micrometers or less - the so-called PM10 - reached 8,000 micrograms per cubic meter in Beijing, more than 160 times the safe limit set by the World Health Organization (WHO). The researchers note that if anthropogenic air pollution continues to increase in the coming decades, sandstorms could become much more problematic for residents of major Chinese cities such as Beijing, even if the sandstorms themselves become less frequent.