The distribution of dust storms in the west of Kazakhstan



Dust storm — wind transfer by soil or sand over a desert, semi-desert and ragged steppe. Dust storms often happen in summer, sometimes in spring and in cold winter. The dust storm is mainly observed on the territory of the former Soviet Union, in the southern regions and occurs in Kazakhstan, Central Asia, rarely in the Caucasus, in Ukraine and in some areas of the Far East. It is often found in the western and southern regions of Kazakhstan. There are many scientists who study this meteorological phenomenon and its physical mechanism. In particular, L. P. Fedyushina, E. A. Seredkina, S. S. Kharitonov, A. P. Agarkova, P. S. Zakharov, N. N. Romanov and many others. For example, a 20-year study of Agarkova (1950–1969) shows that dust storms occur throughout the year are very common in the Shymkent and Kyzylorda regions, as well as in the south of Aktobe region and east of Atyrau, studying the physical mechanism of dust storms. His research has shown that the wind regime is one of the main meteorological factors causing dust storms.

The purpose of this work is to study the spatial and temporal distribution of dust storms in the western regions of Kazakhstan according to data from 2005–2017, as well as to study the meteorological and synoptic conditions of the longest dust storm observed in this period.

The study of dust storms allows not only to predict it, but also helps to fight it, also allows you to take anti-erosion measures in time, save the national economy and much more.

Keywords: dust storm, storm, wind, wind speed, repeatability, duration, number of days, front, cyclone.

Introduction. One of the unique atmospheric phenomena observed in Kazakhstan during the year is dust storm. They are wind speeds and soil cover is closely linked to the nature of When the dusty storm is dry, the strong wind blows loose soils in the arena. They release soil tissue, expose the roots of vegetation, and cause much damage to agriculture [1]. The strongest dust storm carries millions of tons of dust on hundreds of kilometers (sometimes thousands of miles) miles [2]. А. Г. According to Gael, 85 % of the dust is transported up to a height of about 10 cm in the air with a velocity of about 9 m/s at a height of about 1.5 mm. SS According to Kharitonov's research, altitude fluctuations will decrease 4–5 times within 3–10 m. Low dust particles with a radius of less than 50 μm can be lifted to a higher altitude and may be exposed to distant areas. A small part of smaller particles can be raised to a depth of 1.5–2 km and hundreds of kilometers of airflows are sometimes transported to thousands of kilometers [3].

The analysis of dust storms statistics allows us to analyze its time and space characteristics: the duration, duplication of dust storms and the number of observed days.

Object of research. Object of research — West Kazakhstan regions. The continental climate is dominated by the prevailing natural phenomena in the West Kazakhstan region for centuries, and this characterizes the north-west to the south-east. As a result of the continental climate, there is a sharp contrast between sun and night, winter and summer, and the winter season is rapidly changing. For the entire region there is a constant absence of atmospheric precipitations and deficits, snow cover and open air, tissue snowfall, excessive dryness of the air and soil, a great deal of direct sunlight on the surface of the entire vegetative and intensive evaporation of the soil. The winter is cold, mostly cloudy, cloudy, but short, and summer is hot and pretty long.

In the case of local soil, soil moisture content and crop yields are dependent on atmospheric precipitations. Their annual size varies from 300 mm in the north to 140 mm in the south, and the average for the area is 263 mm. Average monthly wind speeds will be 3.5–4.5 m/sec in summer. The weather in the region is extremely unpleasant for farmers in the spring and early autumn. At this time there is a fierce fever, droughts in the atmosphere and soil, and a gusting of gravel and sand dries 15–5 m/sec, with heavy storms, hail, frostbite and other natural phenomena.

Methods and materials. The following methods were used in the study:

1. Literature review: a review of the literature on the research subject and the review of the Internet network (Gael, 1963; Babichenko, 1970; Semenov, 2011, etc.);
2. According to the 2005–2017 data, the number of days of dust storms was observed at the stations of the West Kazakhstan region;
3. On the West Kazakhstan stations the data on the duplication of dust stroke at different stroke levels were analyzed according to the 2005–2017 data;
4. The duration of dust storms observed in West Kazakhstan region for 2005–2017 was considered.

Research analysis and discussion.On the average in the steppe zone of Kazakhstan there will be 20–38 days dust storm. In the sandy deserts in the south of the republic, dust storms in the south of Balkhash lake will be 55–60 days. Dust storms are not common in the southeast, eastern mountains of Kazakhstan, as they are considered as rocky and clayy areas [1].

Table 1

The number of days with dust storms on stations at the West Kazakhstan region between 2005 and 2017

Stations	Months
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	year
Kalmykovo	0	1,0	0	3,7	3,2	5,7	5,6	4,8	4,1	3,3	1,0	1,3	33,7
Chapaev	0,3	0	0	0,8	4,0	4,4	3,1	3,8	2,5	3,8	0,2	0,2	23,1
Atyrau	0,3	0,2	0,7	2,5	3,5	1,5	1,0	3,0	0	1,0	0	0,1	13,8
Ushtagan	0,4	0,5	4,1	9,4	8,4	8,3	7,5	7,2	5,5	2,4	0,3	1,0	55,0
Shalkar	0,1	0	0	1,1	2,1	3,6	2,7	3,1	2,1	1,2	0,2	0,1	16,3
Aktobe	1,0	1,6	0,3	2,7	4,1	3,7	3,7	2,0	2,1	1,7	0	0,3	23,2
Akkuduk	0,5	1,0	4,1	5,5	3,5	3,3	2,6	2,2	3,9	2,9	0,7	0,9	31,1
Sam	0,1	0,2	0,2	1,0	0	1,5	1,5	2	0	1,0	0	0,2	7,7

Table 1 shows the number of days observed in average dust storms at West Kazakhstan stations at the 2005–2017 survey. According to the data, dust storms are highest in the Ushtagan station, 55 days a year. And we see that it was observed at the minimal station, 7.7 days per year. In addition, it is frequently observed at Kalmykovo station, 33.7 days a year, 31.1 days at the Akkuduk station. Also, dust storms are frequent in warmer seasons. It can be explained as follows: the absence of grass cover in most of the tropical steppes during that time of the year. And the number of unspecified days that corresponds to the winter time, ie January, February and December, can be explained by the presence of snow cover in the winter months. These figures confirm the dependence of the dust storm on the ground surface.

At West Kazakhstan stations, data on the duplication of dust strokes at different strokes, based on observations from 2005 to 2017 (table 2).

Table 2

Diversity of dust storms of different durations on stations of West Kazakhstan region between 2005 and 2017

Station	Year
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Akkuduk	0,9	4,9	12,4	18,1	9,5	12,5	11,2	7,9	12,4	7,4	2,4	0,4
Shalkar	0,3	0,8	1,7	8,7	17,3	17,7	15,7	16,7	14,0	4,6	1,9	0,5
Kalmykovo	0	0,8	2,6	4,8	13,1	16,1	18,9	16,1	13,5	8,6	0,9	0
Ushtagan	0	1,4	9,3	16,6	19,6	17,0	9,9	11,0	9,3	5,1	2,3	0

The data on the duplication of dust storms at different stroke stations in the West Kazakhstan region have been provided for 2005–2017. Repeated dust storms are particularly noticeable in spring and summer. Dust storm data are summed up in a single table in warm and cold weather. The duplication of dust storms in a specific month for calculating the values ​​obtained is based on the gradations in the tables. The number of cases according to each gradation is given in percentages. The highest recurrence value was recorded in May at 19.6 Ushtag station. The lowest recurring value corresponds to 0,3 at the Shalkar station in January. At Ushtagan and Kalmykovo stations in January and December there were duplication 0, ie dust storms were not recorded.

According to data from 2005 to 2017, the duration of dust storms observed in the West Kazakhstan region (table 3).

Table 3

Dust storms with different durations for stations in the West Kazakhstan region between 2005 and 2017

Station	Hours
	0–3	3–6	6–9	9–12	12–15	15–18	18–21	21–24	24–27	27–30	30–33	33–36	36–42
Akkuduk	160	144	57	28	15	4	5	2	0	0	0	0	0
Shalkar	144	76	42	12	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kalmykovo	163	100	37	16	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ushtagan	197	185	80	49	13	4	1	1	1	1	0	2	1

Table 3 lists dust storms of different durations for stations in the West Kazakhstan region between 2005 and 2017. Dust storms, which last for 0–3 hours as shown in the table, are the most commonly recorded at Ushtag station, ie 197 times. Dust extinctions of this time were observed at Kalmykovo station 163 times, at Akkuduk station 160 times, at Shalkar station 144 times. The highest dust storm was recorded at Ushtag station 1 time, the duration of dust storm was 42 hours.

The longest stretch of dust storms in the western regions of Kazakhstan was registered at the Ushtagan station in April 2013. The strength of the dust storms depends on wind velocity, soil type and its moisture, and the high atmospheric pressure [4].

Storms are usually scattered on tens or hundreds of kilometers, which are referred to local weather events. In extremely rare cases, hazardous dust storms can be measured in thousands of kilometers. Such a scale phenomenon requires a comprehensive study of storms. In addition to superficial observations, they need to get information on space flight vehicles. Exploration of space spaces has revealed the prospect of monitoring the formation of strong dust storms at Earth [5].

Scanned radiometers have been used in space objects to capture images of different spectral spaces on the Earth. Quantitative interpretations of the images were possible because every element of the image can be used to obtain absolute brightness of the surface system. Controlled light can be an indicator of the aerosol optical thickness of the atmosphere, especially when the Sun is at the required altitudes, at the shooting and measurement of the aerosol slopes on the aqueducts and the length of the wavelength at 0.75 micrometer. In these conditions, the thickness of the atmospheric aerosol layer can be obtained at + 10 % accuracy. Space observation methods extend the ability to estimate the dust mass in the storms during strong storms [6].

The qualitative methods of air pollution measurement using space systems now make the first steps. In addition, the importance of these methods is the opening. Only these methods allow for an immediate assessment of the aerosol mass, its optical characteristics and the life span of the atmosphere necessary for solving many applied and environmental problems. An important consequence of the researches is that the brightness of the system is that it is subordinate to the total amount of aerosol atmospheric, not its altitude distribution [7].

The exhaust plume of aerosols from the source of aerosol is well-looked. Atmospheric aerosol exploration allows this to go from one source to another — a systematic space monitoring of aerosols in the atmosphere, which is crucial for global and regional climate monitoring. Modeling and monitoring of dust storms is of interest to scientists from Kazakhstan, Russia and other countries around the world, because dust storms are classified as hazardous meteorological phenomena. At the same time aerosol transport has a transboundary nature and large areas are affected by this phenomenon. The condition of the new aerosol discharge fractures, due to the degradation of the earth, deteriorates. Research on the development of a comprehensive monitoring system for such dust and sand storms has been successfully developed in Kazakhstan. Television images and images from space stations have allowed to detect strong dust sources in the shortest possible time and to determine the trajectories of small particles (aerosols) in the air. African and Asian continents were the largest concentrations of aerosols [8]. The information obtained from the cosmodrome also allows to detect the source of the aerosols in the region of Kazakhstan. Western Kazakhstan is a dangerous source of dust storms in Central Asia. That is why the region is attracted by the researchers.

Conclusion. Specifics of spatial and temporal distribution of dust storms in the western regions of Kazakhstan for 2005–2017 have been identified:

1) to determine the number of observed days, ie, the number of days of monthly dust storms per year, according to data from 2005 to 2017. In 2005–2017, the highest number of average days was recorded at Ushtagan Station (55.0 days);

2) detection of dust stroke at frequencies of 5.5–10.4 hours was detected in determining duplication of dust stroke at different lengths;

3) The longest dust storm was observed at Ushtag station from 22 to 24 April 2013. The main dust storm is cold weather in this region and the weather is rainy.

References:

1. Seredkina I. S. (1960) Pyl'nyye buri Kazakhstana [Dust storms of Kazakhstan] // Tr. KazNIGMI. — Vol. 15. — pp. 54–59.
2. Matveyev L. T. (2000) Fizika atmosfery [Physics of the atmosphere]. — L.: Gidrometeoizdat. — pp. 777.
3. Gael A. G., Smirnova L. F. (1963) O vetrovoy erozii legkikh pochv v Severnom Kazakhstane [About wind erosion of light soils in Northern Kazakhstan] // In the book: Dust storms and their prevention. — M.: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR,. — pp. 122–132.
4. Babichenko V. N. (1972) Pyl'nyye buri [Dust storms] // Tr. UkrNIGMI. — Vol. 110. — pp. 105–120.
5. Greeley R., and Iversen J. D., (1985) Wind as a Geological Process on Earth, Mars, Venus and Titan: — Cambridge University Press, — pp. 333.
6. Iversen J. D., Greeley R., Pollack J. B., Udovich N., and White B., (1974) Wind tunnel studies of Martian Aeolian processes. // Proc. Royal Soc., A. — Vol. 341. — pp.331–360.
7. Semenov O. E. (2011) Vvedeniye v eksperimental'nuyu meteorologiyu i klimatologiyu peschanykh bur' [Introduction to experimental meteorology and climatology of sandstorms]. — Almaty. — pp. 458–468.
8. Arao K., Ishizaka Y. (1986) Volume and mass of Yellow Sand Dust in the Air over Japan as Estimated from Atmospheric Turbidity // J.Meteor. Soc. Japan. — Vol.64. — pp. 79–94.