Sandstorms Affect Air Quality in Northern China, Beijing

China Watch Home About China Watch

As of late April, northern China had encountered eight severe sandstorms this year alone, worsening the air quality in half the region’s cities, according to China’s National Environmental Monitoring Center. In one recent storm in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, two people died and widespread damage was reported. New storms have been forecast by the weather bureau, according to China News.

This year’s sandstorms are considered more severe than in previous years. Not only are they increasing in frequency and having more serious impacts on air quality, but they are also occurring earlier in the season and affecting a wider area. According to China’s State Environmental Protection Agency, the timing of the first sandstorm moved up by a week in 2006, and the sandstorm-affected area has extended beyond 3 million square kilometers.

The underlying reason for the frequent dust storms is worsening desertification in China’s northern reaches, caused by a combination of warm, dry weather and the rapid spread of agriculture, especially in the northwest. According to China’s national desertification program, the dust-affected area is likely to expand to the northeast in the near future as a large area of grassland in Inner Mongolia’s northern plain turns rapidly to desert.

Thick yellow dust has swept over the city of Beijing eight times this spring. The most recent sandstorm hit the capital on April 17 and was the worst such event in five years, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The storm, which blew in from Inner Mongolia, was accompanied by gale winds that dumped an estimated 400,000 tons of dust on the city, reducing visibility to less than 100 meters. The poor weather conditions have cast a cloud over Beijing’s Blue Sky project, thwarting municipal efforts to improve air quality. In the period from April 1–18, the city reported only five blue-sky days.

Due to its lack of rainfall and overall surface dryness in the spring, Beijing experiences sandstorms every March and April. For about 40 days every year, the pollutants cannot be diffused, as the city’s location makes it a natural receptacle for accumulating sand and dust. Rapid urban development is affecting Beijing’s air quality as well. To alleviate the dust from hundreds of new construction sites, authorities have issued regulations urging builders to cover all working areas, pack down loose dirt, and wash vehicle tires when exiting the sites.

This year’s sandstorms have caused the greatest economic losses to northern China’s transportation, agriculture, and stock-raising sectors. According to China Energy News, in Inner Mongolia more than 1,170 hectares of wheat were damaged and 11,000 livestock were killed due to the storms, causing a loss of 10 million RMB (US$1.25 million). Worldwide, an estimated $48 billion in losses is attributed to sandstorms every year, with $6.5 billion of this occurring in China.