Contribution of Cropland Wind Erosion to Air Pollution: Case of an Arizona Dust Storm

Wind erosion is one of the main factors of soil degradation and air pollution in arid and semiarid regions. In recent years, dust storms have become ever more important sources of air pollution in large areas of Iran. Dust storms previously were confined to the summer season and to western Iran. Nowadays, dust storms occur during eight months of the year and extend to the central regions and the entire south of Iran. This is causing increasing problems for the residents of the affected areas, threatening their health and impairing social, economic and agricultural activities. Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan Province, is the city that is most seriously affected by these problems in Iran.Wind erosion is a multifaceted phenomenon influenced by a variety of factors. One of these factors that has changed considerably in recent time in Iran is land use/cover and land management. To investigate the impact of these changes on wind erosion potential in southwestern Iran we applied an empirical model of the Iran Research Institute of Forest and Rangeland (IRIFR) to remote sensing data extracted from Landsat ETM+ and Landsat 8 imagery of 2010 and 2019. Relationships between changes in wind erosion and land use/cover were determined by cross-tabulation, combining the original spectral bands with synthetic bands and using Maximum Likelihood classification.The results indicate major changes in wind erosion potential over the last decade in the study area. Interestingly, while areas with a low, medium, and high sediment yield potential decreased, areas with a very high sediment yield potential have increased. Increasing soil erosion potential was primarily related to the conversion of rangeland to agricultural cropland Moreover, the results indicate an increase in desertification in the study area which is also a clear evidence of increasing in soil erosion.

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Effect of ecological restoration programs on dust pollution in North China Plain: a case study

10.5194/acp-2017-855 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Xin Long ◽

Xuexi Tie ◽

Guohui Li ◽

Junji Cao ◽

Tian Feng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Land Cover ◽

Ecological Restoration ◽

Dust Storm ◽

North China Plain ◽

North China ◽

Eastern China ◽

Storm Event ◽

Air Pollutions ◽

Dust Storm Event

Abstract. In recent years, Chinese government has taken great efforts in initiating large-scale ecological restoration programs (ERPs) to reduce the dust pollutions in China. Using a satellite measurement product of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the changes in land cover are quantitatively evaluated in this study. We find that grass and forest are increased in berried lands and deserts in northwestern China, which locate in the upwind regions of the populated areas of the North China Plain (NCP) in eastern China. As a result, the changes in land cover could produce important impacts on the dust pollutions in eastern of China. To assess the effect of ERPs on dust pollutions, a regional transport/dust model (WRF-DUST, Weather Research and Forecast model with dust) is applied to investigate the evolution of dust pollutions during a strong dust episode (from 2 to 8 March 2016). The calculations are intensively evaluated by comparing with the measured data. Despite some model biases, the WRF-DUST model reasonably reproduced the temporal variations and spatial distributions during the dust storm event. The correlation coefficient (R) between the calculated and measured dust concentrations is 0.77. The indices of agreement (IOAs) are 0.96 and 0.83, and the normalized mean bias (NMBs) are 2 % and −15 % in the dust source region (DSR) and the downwind populated area of NCP, respectively, suggesting that the WRF-DUST model well captures the spatial variations and temporal evolutions of the dust storm event. The impacts of EPRs induced land cover changes on the dust pollutions in NCP are quantitatively assessed using the WRF-DUST model. We find that the ERPs significantly reduce the dust pollutions in NCP, especially in the heart area of NCP (BTH, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei). During the episode when the dust storm was transported from the DSR to NCP, the reduction of dust pollutions induced by ERPs ranges from −5 % to −15 % in NCP, with the maximum reduction of −15.3 % (−21.0 μg m−3) in BTH, and −6.2 % (−9.3 μg m−3) in NCP. Because the air pollution is severe in eastern China, especially in NCP, the reduction of dust pollutions has important effects on the severe air pollutions. This study shows that ERPs help to reduce air pollutions in the region, especially in springtime, suggesting the important contributions of ERPs to the air pollution control in China.

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Dust storms – what do they really cost?

The Rangeland Journal ◽

10.1071/rj12085 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 35 (2) ◽

pp. 131 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

P. Tozer ◽

J. Leys

Keyword(s):

Dust Storm ◽

Wind Erosion ◽

Positive Impact ◽

The State ◽

Dust Storms ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Eastern Coast ◽

Economic Losses ◽

Soil Resource ◽

The Impact

Dust storms are frequent in Australia and can have a large impact on the soil resource, the economy and people. There have been few economic studies of the impact of wind erosion worldwide and only one in Australia before this study. While wind erosion impacts on the soil resource at the point of the erosion, the level of economic impact rises as the population and associated infrastructure affected by dust increases. This study estimates the impact on the economy of the state of New South Wales of a single large dust storm called Red Dawn that passed over the eastern coast of Australia on 23 September 2009. Estimates for rural and urban areas are presented with both on- and off-site costs evaluated. The estimated cost is A$299 million (with a range of A$293–A$313 million) with most of the cost being associated with household cleaning and associated activities. The dust storm also impacted on many cities on the coast of the state of Queensland, but their costs are not included in this study. This study demonstrates some, but not all, of the major economic costs associated with wind erosion in Australia. Given the annual average cost of dust storms it is suggested that A$9 million per year would be a conservative estimate of the level of investment required in rural areas for dust mitigation strategies, based on improved land management that could be justified to achieve a positive impact on soil condition and reduce economic losses in rural towns and the more populous coastal cities.

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Asian Dust Storm as a Natural Source of Air Pollution in East Asia; its Nature, Aging and Extinction

Air Quality Monitoring, Assessment and Management ◽

10.5772/17712 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Chang Jin

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

East Asia ◽

Dust Storm ◽

Asian Dust ◽

Natural Source ◽

Asian Dust Storm

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Identifying dust springs using WRF-Chem model and GOCART and AFWA wind erosion schemas (simulated dust storm on 05/22/2018)

Environmental Sciences ◽

10.52547/envs.33897 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

pp. 0-0

Author(s):

Farshad Soleimani Sardoo ◽

Tayebeh Mesbahzadeh ◽

Ali Salajeghe ◽

Gholamreza Zehtabian ◽

Abbas Ranjbar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Dust Storm ◽

Wind Erosion

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Soil erosion as a factor of desertification of agrolandscapes in Ukraine

Agroecological journal ◽

10.33730/2077-4893.3.2021.240316 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

O. Tarariko ◽

T. Ilienko ◽

T. Kuchma ◽

O. Bilokin

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Soil Erosion ◽

Land Management ◽

Dust Storm ◽

Wind Erosion ◽

Large Scale ◽

Agricultural Landscapes ◽

The State ◽

Small Rivers ◽

Regional Governments

The description of the typical structure of agricultural landscapes of Ukraine and the most common degradation processes are given. Water and wind erosion are considered as one of the largest contributors to soil degradation in Ukraine, accompanied by declining soil fertility, moisture loss to surface runoff, air and surface water pollution, and degradation of small rivers. The sown areas of main crops for 1990–2020 are analysed per administrative oblast according to the State Statistical Service of Ukraine. A global long-term satellite remote sensing land surface temperature dataset (NOAA AVHRR) was used to analyse the dynamics of the average sum of effective temperatures for the vegetation season in 1982–2019. Sentinel-5P satellite data was used to analyse the spread and exposure of a large-scale dust storm in Polissya region in April 2020. As a result of climate change and economic factors, the area under corn and sunflower has been significantly increased. Due to the increased frequency of stormy rains and strong wind under climate change, the conditions for intensification of water and wind erosion in agricultural landscapes has been created. The local manifestation of wind erosion is typical for Polissya, mainly on overdried peat bogs and cohesive-sandy soils. But in the spring of 2020 a large-scale dust storm was observed for the first time on the territory of Ukrainian and Belarusian Polissya on the area of about 3.5 million hectares.The growing risk of soil erosion due to the climate change and current agricultural practices requires the improvement not only of the state land management system, but also the agri-environmental monitoring system, scientific methodical and information-advisory support of regional governments, landowners and land users. In order to implement state policy and coordinate the work on the rational use and protection of soils, combating their desertification and degradation, as well as adaptation of land use systems to climate change, it is proposed to establish the governing body «Monitoring, land management and soil protection» on the basis of existing specialized units of central and regional governments in the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.

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