The Seoulite

Yellow dust was pretty intense yesterday.

Want a quick way to check whether you’re just being paranoid about that cough… or whether it really is yellow dust?

Check out this site from the Korea Meterological Agency. It gives you an hourly line graph of yellow dust conditions for all major areas of Korea.

http://web.kma.go.kr/eng/asi/asi_02_02.jsp

Asian Dust (also yellow dust, yellow sand, yellow wind or China dust storms) originates in the deserts of Mongolia, northern China and Kazakhstan where high-speed surface winds and intense dust storms kick up dense clouds of fine, dry soil particles. These clouds are then carried eastward by prevailing winds and pass over China, North and South Korea, and Japan, as well as parts of the Russian Far East. Sometimes, the airborne particulates are carried much further, in significant concentrations which affect air quality as far east as the United States.

In the last decade or so, it has become a serious problem due to the increase of industrial pollutants contained in the dust and intensified desertification in China causing longer and more frequent occurrences, as well as in the last few decades when the Aral Sea of Kazakhstan started drying up due to a failed Soviet agricultural scheme.

Areas affected by the dust experience decreased visibility and the dust is known to cause a variety of health problems, not limited to sore throat and asthma in otherwise healthy people. Often, people are advised to avoid or minimize outdoor activities, depending on severity of storms. For those already with asthma or respiratory infections, it can be fatal.

The first known record of an Asian Dust event in Korea was in 174 AD during the Silla Dynasty. The dust was known as 'Uto (雨土)' and was believed at the time to be the result of an angry god sending down dust instead of rain or snow.

Tags: Asian Dust, KMA, Korea Meterological Association, Seoul, Seoulite, South Korea, Yellow Dust

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 9:58 am and is filed under Domestic Life, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.