Sand sea activity and interactions with climatic parameters in the Taklimakan Sand Sea, China

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Abstract

An analysis is undertaken of the temporal and spatial variability of climatic parameters including precipitation, potential evaporation and wind regimes that control the aeolian activity in the Taklimakan Sand Sea. Mobility index is calculated according to the mode that Lancaster (J. Arid Environ. 14 (1988) 233) suggested. Our results show that there are apparent temporal and spatial variations for this mobility index. The annual aeolian activity varies in phase with the number of windy days, precipitation and potential evaporation. Dune development is highly consistent with distribution of the mobility index. The mobility index shows that the Taklimakan Sand Sea experienced high aeolian sand activity during the 1960s and mid-1980s, and then related sand transport was reduced from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. The mobility index cycle cannot be obtained because the available meteorological data cover only short periods. Such an approach will require longer research combined with field observations of sand movement.

Introduction

The formation and activity of sand seas are closely related to climatic change, and can be demonstrated through consideration of climatic parameters (e.g., Cooke and Warren, 1973; Pye and Tsoar, 1990; Lancaster, 1995; Livingstone and Warren, 1996; Bullard et al., 1997; Kocurek and Lancaster, 1999). However, for the arid regions of China meteorological records of only short periods exist. For instance, the meteorological record span is less than 50 years in most regions of the Taklimakan Sand Sea. It is, therefore, difficult to use such data to analyse the climatic cycle, and the links between dunefield activity and simple regional climatic measures have been questioned (e.g., Bullard et al., 1997). Sand sea activities can be reflected by parameters such as precipitation, evaporation, temperature, wind velocity and direction because of the interactions of sand transport and these climatic parameters. Examples of mobility indexes calculated from these parameters have been discussed in many other studies (e.g., Ash and Wasson, 1983; Talbot, 1984; Wasson, 1984; Wasson and Nanninga, 1986; Lancaster (1987), Lancaster (1988); Muhs and Maat, 1993; Bullard et al., 1997; Lancaster and Helm, 2000).

The Taklimakan Sand Sea, located in the northwest of the country, is the largest dunefield in China, with an area about 338,000 km2 (Zhu and Chen, 1994). It is also the second largest active sand sea in the world (Zhu et al., 1980). The sand sea activity in Taklimakan has not been described and the relation between sand sea activity and climatic parameters has been given little attentions. In this paper, we provide an integrated analysis of temporal and spatial variations on wind regimes, precipitation and potential evaporation in the Taklimakan Sand Sea. Finally, the mobility index of sand sea activity is discussed.

Section snippets

Data sources and methods

Data used in this study covering the period from the 1950s to 2000 were obtained from the national meteorological stations of China around the Taklimakan Sand Sea (Fig. 1). The length of these records varies for different locations (Table 1). A few annual records are excluded because of the absence of some monthly records. According to the meteorological data, nine parameters are closely related to sand sea activity, including monthly precipitation, actual evaporation, temperature, mean wind

Annual precipitation

The Taklimakan Sand Sea is an extremely arid region. Annual rainfall is far below the generally accepted threshold level (100 mm) for dune stabilization (Goudie, 1992; Livingstone and Warren, 1996) in desert regions, and over the past 50 years the mean annual precipitation has varied only between 22 and 70 mm. There are spatial variations in annual precipitation and evaporation (Table 2). From the north edge towards the southwest, and then towards the east of the sand sea, the annual rainfall

Variation of the mobility index

According to the Lancaster (1988) index:M=W/(P/PE),where M is the mobility index, P is the annual precipitation, PE is the annual potential evaporation derived using Thornthwaite (1948) method. Because of the limitations of the wind data, the annual percentage of time during what the wind exceeds the threshold for sand transport (W) is calculated using Eq. (1). Because W values are strongly correlated with the annual numbers of windy days (D), there are slight differences in the calculated

Conclusions

The meteorological records from six stations show that Taklimakan Sand Sea is an extremely arid region with a mean of annual precipitation under 70 mm. There is nearly no vegetation growth to control the development of the dunes in Eastern Taklimakan because of the low precipitation. In the Northern and Western Taklimakan the dunes experience partial surface activity. In combination with low precipitation, the mean of annual actual evaporation of 2000 mm enhances the aridity of the sand sea. To

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Key Project for Basic Research (2000048702), the Hundred Talents Project and the Knowledge Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-304). We are very grateful to Dr. Jonathan Holmes for improving the English. Special thanks are due to anonymous referees for their invaluable suggestions for improving the manuscript.

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