Correlation analysis between sand-dust events and meteorological factors in Shapotou, Northern China

The relationship between the sand-dust events in Shapotou and the meteorological factors from the meteorological stations in Shapotou and three surrounding areas are analyzed in this article. The results show that the number of occurrences of floating dust weather annually increases from 1988 to 1998 but there is no such tendency for the number of occurrences of blowing sand and sandstorm. Meteorological factors are highly correlated with the frequency of floating dust weather and the correlation decreased with the increase of distance from Shapotou. Due to the impact of global change and human activities, in parallel, average relative humidity decreased year by year in these four areas, especially in Shapotou, resulting in an increase of the frequency of floating dust weather. Alashan Zuoqi, which is the sand source area, strongly affects Shapotou blowing sand and sandstorm.