title: Onset of frequent dust storms in northern China at ~AD 1100.
abstract: Dust storms in northern China strongly affect the living and health of people there and the dusts could travel a full circle of the globe in a short time. Historically, more frequent dust storms occurred during cool periods, particularly the Little Ice Age (LIA), generally attributed to the strengthened Siberian High. However, limited by chronological uncertainties in proxy records, this mechanism may not fully reveal the causes of dust storm frequency changes. Here we present a late Holocene dust record from the Qaidam Basin, where hydrological changes were previously reconstructed, and examine dust records from northern China, including the ones from historical documents. The records, being broadly consistent, indicate the onset of frequent dust storms at ~AD 1100. Further, peaked dust storm events occurred at episodes of high total solar irradiance or warm-dry conditions in source regions, superimposed on the high background of frequent dust storms within the cool LIA period. We thus suggest that besides strong wind activities, the centennial-scale dust storm events over the last 1000 years appear to be linked to the increased availability of dust source. With the anticipated global warming and deteriorating vegetation coverage, frequent occurrence of dust storms in northern China would be expected to persist.
authors.affiliation: School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, People's Republic of China.|Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yuxin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.|State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, CAS, Nanjing, 210008, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Mu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, IEE, CAS, Xi'an, 710075, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Weiguo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, School of Earth and Environment Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 73000, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Fahu
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Dian
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhonghui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu