LONG-DISTANCE ATMOSPHERIC TRANSPORT OF DUST FROM CHINESE DESERT TO THE NORTH PACIFIC

The Chinese desert is one of the major sources of atmospheric mineral dust transported for a long distance to the North Pacific by the atmospheric circulation.The characteristic of the aerosol in the North Pacific is smilar to that of the aerosol in North China with a considerable concentration of mineral in spring due to the large-scale dust storm occurring in North China.The study of isotope tracer indicates that the concentration of Al is significantly related to ²¹⁰Pb,suggesting that the mineral aerosol in the North Pacific may origir ate from the desert in Northwest China by using air mass trajectory analysis.About 6-12×10⁶ tons of Chinese desert mineral dust per year would be transported to the North Pacific.