Observation of mega-dune evaporation after various rain events in the hinterland of Badain Jaran Desert, China

Surface energy and water vapor fluxes observed on a megadune in the Badain Jaran Desert, China

“…The mean winter and summer temperatures in this area are -9.1°C and 25.3°C, respectively. The annual mean diurnal temperature range is 34.4°C (Ma et al, 2014), which categorizes this region as a "cold desert" (Warner, 2004). The desert is characterized by a strongly continental climate with a mean annual precipitation of 35.2-42.9 mm at its northern margin and 90.1-115.4 mm at its southern margin.…”

“…According to Ma et al (2014), the conventional precipitation, which was below 5 mm, accounted for roughly 90% of all rain events, and extreme precipitation, which was more than 40 mm, occurred only once in several decades in the desert. During our observation, the rainfall primarily occurred in spring and summer; and the cumulative rainfall was 147 mm, which was considerably larger than that in a normal year, partly because an extreme precipitation event (45 mm) occurred in July.…”

Holocene high lake-levels and pan-lake period on Badain Jaran Desert

“…However, the wide area, harsh environment, and low-density of profile sampling all imposed restrictions on the exploration of the lakes' spatial pattern changes at Badain Jaran Desert, which requires high-quality paleoenvironmental and paleo-climatic proxies from more geographical locations. Moreover, lake level fluctuations of the underground water recharge lakes in Badain Jaran Desert were affected by precipitation, effective moisture and groundwater recharge (Ma et al, 2014, Wu et al, 2014. Thus, Holocene environment evolution in the Badain Jaran Desert and its significance for archaeological culture must be addressed, by studying supply system changes of regional underground water.…”

New observational and experimental evidence for the recharge mechanism of the lake group in the Alxa Desert, north-central China

“…Climate station records show that the mean annual precipitation for Alxa Youqi and Yabulai are 118.8 mm and 88.5 mm respectively during 1981e2009 (Wang et al, 2013a). The maximum annual precipitation for Alxa Youqi during 1960e2011was 188.1 mm and in this period there were only 9 rainfall events that the daily precipitation reached 30 mm (Ma et al, 2014). Wang et al (2013a) suggested that the precipitation in the hinterland of the Badain Jaran Desert had no significant difference from that in the margin area.…”

“…But Ma et al (2003Ma et al ( , 2009b, Ma and Yang (2008) and Gates et al (2008b) calculated the direct recharge rate as only between 0.9 and 2.5 mm/yr (~1e2% of annual precipitation) over the last 2000 years using Cl À mass balance of sand profiles; the modern direct recharge through the unsaturated zone is insufficient to support the study area's network of groundwater-fed perennial lakes. It was supported by the work of Ma et al (2014), in which the sand dune evaporation after rainfall was monitored using eddy covariance, and where it was found that the percolated precipitation evaporated completely in a short time.…”