Dust/salt storms

A dry band along the north-eastern and eastern coast formed as a result of the Aral Sea desiccation is the source of salt, which together with dust are transported by wind over a distance up to 450-500 km from the source of generation and accelerate the process of desertification of the Aral region [6,32]. Such dust/salt storms have been observed on satellite images since the mid-1970s [33] (see, for example. Fig. 12). The predominant direction of the salt and dust transport (up to 60%) is southwestward [6] sometimes these dust/salt flows are traced almost to the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea (see Fig. 12). 

Fig. 12 Dust/salt storm over the Aral Sea MODIS/Aqua image for 29 April 2008, courtesy of NASA. Black lines show country borders between Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan...

Today at the location of the former Aral Sea there are three remnant water bodies the Small Aral Sea, Western Large Aral Sea, and Eastern Large Aral Sea (see Fig. 2). In June 2009 the Western and Eastern Large Aral Sea were still coimected by a small, shallow, and narrow channel in the northern part of both basins (Fig. 3). The Aral Sea lost its economic importance, and the aftermath of its degradation represents a serious threat to the local population due to a lack of fresh water, water quality loss, salinization of soils, dust and salt storms, climate deterioration, various diseases, etc. 

Andreae MO, Charlson JC, Bmynseels F, Storms H, Van Grieken R, Maenhant W (1986) Internal mixture of sea salt silicates and excess sulfate in marine aerosols. Science 232 1620-1623 Braaten DA, Cahill TA (1986) Size and composition Asian dust transported to Hawaii. Atmos Environ 20 1105-1109... 

In the last equation excess K" was excluded since its concentration was too small when compared to the other components. Thus on the average sulfate from pollution is estimated to be about 19.0% of the total sulfate measured in rain, the rest is divided between sea salt (19.4%) and soil components (61.6%). Soil minerals in Israel and Saharan dust storms... 

---