Desert in Xinjiang One and-a-half Times That of ShanghaiMore than 9,000 square kilometers of land in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the farthest place from sea on earth, were turned into desert over the past century, according to a recent research finding.The desert is equivalent to one and-a-half of the acreage of Shanghai, China's largest industrial center. Moreover, the proportion of desert in Xinjiang expands at an annual rate of 400 square kilometers, which could bury the city proper of Shanghai. Song Yudong, a research fellow at the Xinjiang Ecology and Geography Research Institute, said that 85 percent of the desert emerging in recent years was due to dry climate and irrational use of water resources and land reclamation. The desert is mainly composed of floating sand dunes, abandoned farmland and dried-up river courses and lakes. It can be seen in 80 out of the 87 counties and cities in Xinjiang. Currently, Xinjiang has 790,000 square kilometers of desert, and the gobi dessert accounts for 60 percent of the national total. Situated in the circulating current zone of west wind, Xinjiang becomes one of the four leading sandstorm centers in the world. Of the fiercest sandstorms, seven of the 10 storms in China over the past 50 years occurred in Xinjiang. The annual precipitation in Xinjiang is only 145 mm on average, the driest area in the world. However, signs have shown that the region is experiencing a rare humid period in the past decade, said Zhang Jiabao, director of the regional meteorological bureau, adding he is studying the growth trend of the phenomenon and its root cause. A team of nine Japanese experts is on an investigation tour in Xinjiang. They will join hands with local scientists to cope with the grave threat of sandstorms. |
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