Wen, L.; Yong, M.; Bao, Y.; Fu, R.; Jin, E. Effect of Grassland Fires on Dust Storms in Dornod Aimag, Mongolia. Remote Sens.2023, 15, 5629.
Wen, L.; Yong, M.; Bao, Y.; Fu, R.; Jin, E. Effect of Grassland Fires on Dust Storms in Dornod Aimag, Mongolia. Remote Sens. 2023, 15, 5629.
Wen, L.; Yong, M.; Bao, Y.; Fu, R.; Jin, E. Effect of Grassland Fires on Dust Storms in Dornod Aimag, Mongolia. Remote Sens.2023, 15, 5629.
Wen, L.; Yong, M.; Bao, Y.; Fu, R.; Jin, E. Effect of Grassland Fires on Dust Storms in Dornod Aimag, Mongolia. Remote Sens. 2023, 15, 5629.
Abstract
As major natural disasters in grassland areas, fires and dust events seriously threaten human safety, property, and animal husbandry. Furthermore, these phenomena may be mutually reinforcing, which can lead to more severe cascading disasters. However, few studies have been on the mechanisms of grassland fire and dust events disaster chain. Therefore, we selected Dornod aimag (province), a typical temperate grassland, as the study area and analyzed the spatiotemporal variation patterns of grassland fires and dust weather, as well as the effect of grassland fires on dust weather based on MCD64A1 Burnt Area data and SYNOP dust data. The mechanism of grassland fires on dust weather was further investigated using the MOD13A3 vegetation index product and ERA5 wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation data. The results revealed that grassland fires and dust weather varied spatially across the study area. Furthermore, grassland fires occurred mainly in spring (April to May), summer (June), and autumn (October), while dust weather mainly occurred in spring (March to May). Moreover, autumn, winter, and spring cumulative grassland fires (both days and area) substantially affected the spring total dust weather days and dust storm days, particularly the spring cumulative dust storm days. Additionally, higher precipitation in the summer of 2014 resulted in higher vegetation coverage and more fuel in the autumn and winter of 2014, and even in the spring of 2015. As a result, the cumulative grassland fire days was higher, and the area was larger from September 2014 to April 2015, leading to a considerable increase in the cumulative dust storm days in May 2015. This study has important implications for disaster prevention and mitigation, ecological and environmental protection, and sustainable development in grasslands.
Copyright:
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