Credit: © NASA

Large dust storms in Tibet could be heating the region and influencing the development of the Indian monsoon, finds a new study. Although occasional dust plumes have been previously observed near the edge of the Tibetan Plateau, new satellite observations show that large summer dust storms from the Taklamakan desert are relatively common over the Plateau.

Using the CALIPSO satellite, Jianping Huang from the College of Atmospheric Sciences at Lanzhou University, China and colleagues1 recorded almost 50 dust plumes from June to September 2006 — an almost fivefold increase over events recorded by traditional ground-based methods. The dust plumes recorded reached up to 10 km, with typical thicknesses of 3 to 7 km. By combining modelling with an analysis of the shape of the dust particles, the researchers inferred that the aerosols came primarily from the nearby Taklamakan desert, rather than from human sources

The dust particles tend to absorb heat from sunlight, creating an unusually warm area over the Tibetan Plateau. This heating enhances atmospheric circulation from relatively cold to warm areas, thus strengthening the Indian summer (rainy) monsoon. If desertification progresses in the Taklamakan desert as the climate warms, Tibet will probably become more dusty in summer, with important implications for central Asian climate.