Abstract
Dust storms frequently occur during March and May in the arid and semi-arid regions of East Asia, and emit a large amount of the dust into the atmosphere. The dust has an effect not only on the human health but also on the global climate by altering the radiation budget. To evaluate the influence of the dust on the climate, it is important to estimate the mass concentration and total amount of the dust. However, there have been few studies to estimate the total amount of the dust in source regions.
The Taklimakan Desert is one of the main sources of the dust outbreaks in East Asia. In the present study, lidar observations, satellite remote sensing and ground base observations of the dust at Aksu, Xinjiang, China are used to estimate the dust concentration and total amount of the dust in the Taklimakan Desert in April 2002 and 2004.
