Long-Term Observation of Asian Dust in Changchun and Kagoshima

Monitoring of Asian dust at two stations in Changchun, Jilin Province in northeast China, and Kagoshima, southwest Japan, is discussed. In Changchun, interval records were made with digital and video cameras from 18 March 2003. In Kagoshima, a web camera system to monitor volcanic clouds has been working since December 2000, which also provides data for studies of dust. A heavy dust episode on 11 November 2002, affecting both stations, was detected using 11 and 12 μm channels of NOAA/AVHRR. We observed dust in Changchun on 26 March, 7, 14–16 April, 1–2, 8, 10, 19 May, 8, 23 June, and 12 July in 2003. The observed images corresponded well to NOAA/AVHRR imagery and with 8.6, 11 and 12 μm Terra/MODIS results, although conditions were too cloudy for satellite verification in some cases.