10 May 2025
ZOGLAB participates in the 2025 Taklimakan Desert Scientific Expedition
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From April 15 to 18, the meteorological monitoring stations along the Taklimakan Desert Highway were inspected; from April 19 to 27, the "2025 Chasing Sand and Dust" scientific expedition experiment was carried out on the southern edge of the Tarim Basin. The ZOGLAB scientific expedition technical team participated in the scientific expedition throughout the whole process, and the mobile observation equipment once again faced the wind and sand in southern Xinjiang.
As the largest mobile desert in China, the Taklimakan Desert, with its Gobi desert and dry lakebeds distributed around it, and the accumulation of sand sources from the alluvial fan on the northern slope of the Kunlun Mountains, together constitute a multi-scale composite dust source area. In recent years, the climate change from dry to wet in the northwest region has increased local precipitation while further exacerbating the complexity of the dust transport path. The content of this desert scientific expedition includes observation and recording of strong sandstorm weather processes on the southern edge of the Tarim Basin and the hinterland of the desert, observation layout and sampling of sand and dust gradients on the northern slope of the Kunlun Mountains, and investigation of the carbon sink geomorphological environment in the core area of Taitema Lake.
During the 14-day investigation, the scientific expedition team set out from Korla, crossed the Taklimakan Desert southward along the desert highway, and then went west along the southern edge of the Tarim Basin to the Karakoram Mountains. At multiple observation stations, they recorded the occurrence, development, stagnation, and dry and wet deposition of strong sandstorms, and investigated the results of the desert blocking war such as the Taklimakan Desert Locking Project, photovoltaic sand control, highway sand control, and human shadow water augmentation projects.
The MMEOS mobile meteorological emergency observation system followed the scientific expedition team through the Taklimakan Desert. According to the development of the sandstorm weather process, it carried out observations of six elements such as three-dimensional wind field, particulate matter, and ground background meteorology, which complemented the data of the observation station and enriched the data basis of desert meteorological research.
In the key inspection areas along the scientific expedition, the LWR2500 laser wind radar and CM120 Celiometer conducted real-time observations of the atmospheric wind field within 2500m and the cloud distribution within 12km, and obtained real-time data on wind field changes and water vapor distribution of sand and dust moving with the near-ground atmosphere.
During the desert scientific expedition, the HWS3000-SPS super portable station and HWS1000 handheld weather station recorded the background field meteorological data of the inspection points along the way, and provided the scientific expedition team with portable meteorological observation guarantee.