Response on Land Desertification to Dust Storm in Recent 45a in Alxa Plateau

The Alxa Plateau has one of the highest frequencies of dust events in China and one of the greatest contributions to East Asian dust. We compiled climate and dust storm data for the Alxa Plateau based on observational data from ten meteorological stations from 1961 to 2005. Our analysis showed that dust storms increased during the 1960s (until 1972), decreased until the late 1990s, and then increased slightly until 2002. The occurrence of sandstorm in Alxa Plateau presented significant difference in time and space, and the number of dust storm changes in the intergeneration presented a great fluctuate: the number of dust storm changes presented a reflection under specific climatic condition. Dust storm frequency was inversely related to land desertification and land use/cover change. The continued deterioration of the underlying surface was one of the main reasons of the increasing dust storm occurrence.