With combined dryland of nearly 7.0 million km2 in China and Mongolia, East Asia is a significant source of dust in the global dust cycle. Multiple lines of evidence showed that dust activities in the region, have declined since the 1970s. Despite intense debate on the contributing factors and their relative importance, most studies agree that improved vegetation cover, the weakening of surface wind, and increased soil moisture are the primary contributors. These studies and those reporting a decline in dust activity in East Asia, however, focused predominantly on records and observations in China, with little known about the role of Mongolia-sourced dust in the dynamics of dust in East Asia. The relative contributions of Mongolia and China to both total and decreasing dust emissions in this area remain unclear. In this study, we used a well-established model to quantify dust emissions during 2001–2023 in East Asia. The results show that China dominated the reduction in East Asian dust activities, contributing 70% to the regional downward trend (−13 Tg yr⁻¹) over the study period. Reductions were driven primarily by increased vegetation cover and soil moisture in China, with more variable contributions from vegetation and wind speed in Mongolia, highlighting distinct regional responses to climatic and land use changes. Precise quantification of these disproportionate contributions from China and Mongolia is critical for developing targeted land management strategies to mitigate transboundary dust impacts across East Asia.
Date and Time: May 13th, 2026 at 10:00 (CET)