Arable land can have a negative impact on a...(id particles over 10 micrometre size can...)

Date:5/6/2008

id particles over 10 micrometre size can say a lot about the geologically specific source areas, says Jindrich Hladil. Moreover, the researchers in Prague, who were investigating the mystery completely independently of their counterparts in Leipzig, discovered in their samples pollen grains that were typical for the Ukraine. These included relatively large quantities of ragweed pollen, which is regarded as extremely allergenic. This also ruled out a dust storm from the Mediterranean coast of Libya, which had caught the scientists attention in the meantime. The rapid transport of the air and the presence of a temperature inversion, which acted like a lid, ensured that the dust cloud was unable to escape upwards or sideways this was shown by data from a LIDAR remote sensing system in Leipzig and from weather balloons. It was swept to Germany as if through a pipe at speeds of up to 70 kilometres per hour, and was even detected in Britain. "At the end of the day, it was the combination of dry, vulnerable soil, strong gusts of wind and fast transport within a dry, stable boundary layer that made this a freak dust event in Central Europe," explains Wolfram Birmili.

A foretaste of the consequences of climate change

Over two-thirds of the land area in the Ukraine consists of fields and meadows. The soil on 220,000 square kilometres is regarded as being under threat. Since the 1930s wind erosion in what was then the Soviet Union has increased considerably as a result of collectivisation in agriculture and the resultant large field areas. In particular, this has affected the regions north of the Caucasus, the lower reaches of the Don river and eastern and southern Ukraine. It is possible that the process is also accelerated by climate change. In particular, previously unaffected semi-arid regions are continuing to dry out. A normal dust storm can result in 70 tons of the light black soil being whirled up per hectare per hour. "According to Russian studie
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Contact: Tilo Arnhold presse@ufz.de 49-341-235-1635 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres Source:Eurekalert

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