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Decrease trend of dust event frequency over the past 200 years recorded in the Malan ice core from the northern Tibetan Plateau

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Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

By analyses of the dust layers in the Malan ice core from the northern Tibetan Plateau, it was found that dirty ratio in this core might be a good proxy for dust event frequency. The variations in the dirty ratio displayed a decrease trend over the past 200 years, which implies that dust events became less frequent during the study period. The decrease trend in the variations in dust event frequency might be caused mostly by the natural processes, including increasing precipitation and weakening westerly which might be related with global warming. Furthermore, significant negative correlation was found between the dirty ratio and °18O in the Malan ice core. This is highly important for studying the effect of atmospheric dust on climate change.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Cryosphere and Environment, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 73000, Lanzhou, China

    Ninglian Wang

  2. Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100085, Beijing, China

    Ninglian Wang

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  1. Ninglian Wang
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Correspondence to Ninglian Wang.

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Wang, N. Decrease trend of dust event frequency over the past 200 years recorded in the Malan ice core from the northern Tibetan Plateau. Chin.Sci.Bull. 50, 2866–2871 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1360/982005-237

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1360/982005-237

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