Long-range transport of yellow sand to Taiwan in Spring 2000: observed evidence and simulation

More than 10 Asian dust storms occurring in Spring 2000 were found to transport dust long distances, with some fallout reaching as far as Taiwan. An air quality data set from Taiwan clearly shows that long-range transport of yellow-sand results in air quality in Taiwan, which is categorized as “Unhealthy” or “Very Unhealthy”. Backward trajectory analysis indicates that, for air parcels that arrived over Taiwan on 28 April, two or three days are required for transport from source regions, such as Inner Mongolia, a territory that is becoming a desert as a result of over-use and destruction of vegetation cover by human occupants. Furthermore, a 3-D long-range transport model for yellow sand, with an advanced size-dependent deflation module and driven by the NCAR/Penn State Fifth-Generation Mesoscale Model (MM5), is used to identify the long-range transport of yellow sand to Taiwan in April. Comparisons between observations and model calculations indicate that the model is able to reproduce some key features of the long-range transport. Transport of yellow sand to Taiwan is found to occur most easily when dust storms occurring in north China are accompanied by a high-pressure system located over the west of Japan. The high concentrations of yellow sand transported over Taiwan are usually between 500 and 1500 m high, not at the surface.