Sandstorm
A sandstorm is a weather phenomenon in which the ground dust or sand is blown by
strong winds, which causes particulate-filled air that reduces horizontal visibility to
less than 1 km.
1
It is very common in arid and semi-arid regions. The Sahara and dry
lands around the Arabian peninsula are the main terrestrial sources of airborne dust,
with some contributions from Iran, Pakistan and India into the Arabian Sea, and
China’s significant storms deposit dust in the Pacific.
2
There are several main reasons to generate sandstorm, the weather situation of high
winds or strong winds as the driving force, a mass of sand and dust as the material
foundation, and the unstable air conditions as the catalyst to the increase of wind and
strong convection. In this way, sandstorm can entrain more sand and dust, and winch
these particles higher and farther. In addition, the temperature rises and drier weather
in the early days gets warmer, providing sandstorm a special weather background,
because the sand and dust can be entrained much easier in such dry and warm weather.
Moreover, narrow terrain conditions are conducive to the increase of wind speed,
which may also aggravate the formation of sandstorms.
Nevertheless, the occurrence of sandstorms is not only a product under natural
environmental conditions, but also has strong connection with human activities. With
the expansion of human, overgrazing, stark deforestation, water mismanagement,
1
He-Jun Zuo, et al. “Temporal-Spatial Distribution of Sand Storms in the Xilin Gol Area of Inner Mongolia.” Polish
Journal Of Environmental Studies 19, no. 2 (March 2010): 309-314. Academic Search Premier,
EBSCOhost (accessed October 2, 2012).
2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_storm
over-mining, especially excessive reclamation, have done great damage to surface
vegetation. With the process for thousands of years, it has formed desertification,
directly accelerating the formation and development of sandstorms. Overall, drought
and wind contribute to the emergence of dust storms, as do poor farming and grazing
practices by exposing the dust and sand to the wind.
3
Sandstorm, the disastrous weather, has caused severe losses of the national economy
and great harm to the safety of people’s lives and property. Its damages are as follows,
i. It leads to deterioration of the ecological environment. Sandstorms usually
squally entrain sand and dust. After the sandstorm, the region will have severe air
pollution, increase in the number of respiratory diseases.
ii. It affects people’s daily life. Sandstorms, carrying a lot of sand and dust, block
