Sand storm, pollution envelop Beijing

[gato]

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyid=2006-04-17T113800Z_01_PEK344337_RTRUKOC_0_US-CHINA-DUSTSTORM.xml

Sand storm, pollution envelop Beijing

Mon Apr 17, 2006 7:38am ET7

BEIJING (Reuters) - A sand storm struck the Chinese capital on Monday, covering homes, streets and cars in brown dust and leaving the skies a murky yellow as it suffers its worst pollution in years ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Desertification of the country's west and Mongolian steppes has made the spring sand storms worse in recent years, reaching as far away as South Korea and Japan.

So far in 2006, Beijing has notched up 13 days of the worst measure of pollution, more than last year's total and the highest in six years, state media said.

Only 53 "blue sky" days in Beijing had been recorded in 2006 by last Wednesday. The city sets a target of about 230 such clean days a year to help what it says will be a "Green Olympics".

http://news.thebeijingnews.com/china/2006/0418/014@175115.htm

"Dude, what happened to my car?"

沙尘南下落京城

　　受浮尘的影响，昨天北京市的天空呈现土黄色，空气中弥漫着一股土腥味，虽然风不大，但空气的质量达到了最严重的五级重度污染。

　　据新华社报道，北京市气象局新闻发言人张明英介绍，经测算，北京全市降尘平均每平方米20克，总量将超过30万吨。

　　昨日，北京市环保局首次采用了包括有大颗粒的总悬浮颗粒物，作为空气质量指标，显现为重度污染，总悬浮颗粒物为350微克/立方米，最严重时段还达到了1000多微克/立方米。

　　市环保局的监测显示，上个周末，在中蒙边境地区形成沙尘暴。随后，内蒙古、甘肃、山西、陕西等华北上游省份出现沙尘暴天气，把沙尘扬到空中，随着高空气流向下游飘散，就飘到了华北，随后形成“落黄沙”天气。

[sissi]

Yeah,every morning when I come downstair to my bike,finding it covered by a layer of dust.I have conceled several outting for the sand storm.It sucks.

[roddy]

Picture from yesterday. Does everyone else find this really bizarre? I mean, we might have got some sand blown up from the beach when I was a kid, but dust?

[gato]

A CCTV report on the source of the dust storms:

http://winmedia.cctv.com.cn/jingjibanxiaoshi/2006/03/jingjibanxiaoshi_300_20060329_1.wmv

A transcript of the report:

http://www.cctv.com/program/jjbxs/20060322/102121.shtml

探访沙尘暴源头

央视国际 (2006年03月19日 16:39)

A scene from Inner Mongolia. Thirty years ago, this area was a greenbelt.

[doumeizhen]

My dad sent me a German article about this last week, because he figured that if I hadn't brought Bibi (my Pekingese) back to the states she'd be wearing one of these....

[ananda]

This is the reason why I escape from the north. :mrgreen: