Drylands are home to more than 38% of the world's population and are one of the most sensitive areas to climate change and human activities. This review describes recent progress in dryland climate change research. Recent findings indicate that the long‐term trend of the aridity index (AI) is mainly attributable to increased greenhouse gas emissions, while anthropogenic aerosols exert small effects but alter its attributions. Atmosphere‐land interactions determine the intensity of regional response. The largest warming during the last 100 years was observed over drylands and accounted for more than half of the continental warming. The global pattern and interdecadal variability of aridity changes are modulated by oceanic oscillations. The different phases of those oceanic oscillations induce significant changes in land‐sea and north‐south thermal contrasts, which affect the intensity of the westerlies and planetary waves and the blocking frequency, thereby altering global changes in temperature and precipitation. During 1948–2008, the drylands in the Americas became wetter due to enhanced westerlies, whereas the drylands in the Eastern Hemisphere became drier because of the weakened East Asian summer monsoon. Drylands as defined by the AI have expanded over the last 60 years and are projected to expand in the 21st century. The largest expansion of drylands has occurred in semiarid regions since the early 1960s. Dryland expansion will lead to reduced carbon sequestration and enhanced regional warming. The increasing aridity, enhanced warming, and rapidly growing population will exacerbate the risk of land degradation and desertification in the near future in developing countries.

The seasonal and spatial variations of vertical distribution and optical properties of aerosols over China are studied using long-term satellite observations from the Cloud–Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) and ground-based lidar observations and Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) data. The CALIOP products are validated using the ground-based lidar measurements at the Semi-Arid Climate and Environment Observatory of Lanzhou University (SACOL). The Taklamakan Desert and Tibetan Plateau regions exhibit the highest depolarization and color ratios because of the natural dust origin, whereas the North China Plain, Sichuan Basin and Yangtze River Delta show the lowest depolarization and color ratios because of aerosols from secondary formation of the anthropogenic origin. Certain regions, such as the North China Plain in spring and the Loess Plateau in winter, show intermediate depolarization and color ratios because of mixed dust and anthropogenic aerosols. In the Pearl River Delta region, the depolarization and color ratios are similar to but higher than those of the other polluted regions because of combined anthropogenic and marine aerosols. Long-range transport of dust in the middle and upper troposphere in spring is well captured by the CALIOP observations. The seasonal variations in the aerosol vertical distributions reveal efficient transport of aerosols from the atmospheric boundary layer to the free troposphere because of summertime convective mixing. The aerosol extinction lapse rates in autumn and winter are more positive than those in spring and summer, indicating trapped aerosols within the boundary layer because of stabler meteorological conditions. More than 80 % of the column aerosols are distributed within 1.5 km above the ground in winter, when the aerosol extinction lapse rate exhibits a maximum seasonal average in all study regions except for the Tibetan Plateau. The aerosol extinction lapse rates in the polluted regions are higher than those of the less polluted regions, indicating a stabilized atmosphere due to absorptive aerosols in the polluted regions. Our results reveal that the satellite and ground-based remote-sensing measurements provide the key information on the long-term seasonal and spatial variations in the aerosol vertical distribution and optical properties, regional aerosol types, long-range transport and atmospheric stability, which can be utilized to more precisely assess the direct and indirect aerosol effects on weather and climate.

The particle mixing state plays a significant yet poorly quantified role in aerosol radiative forcing, especially for the mixing of dust (mineral absorbing) and anthropogenic pollution (black carbon absorbing) over East Asia. We have investigated the absorption enhancement of mixed-type aerosols over East Asia by using the Aerosol Robotic Network observations and radiative transfer model calculations. The mixed-type aerosols exhibit significantly enhanced absorbing ability than the corresponding unmixed dust and anthropogenic aerosols, as revealed in the spectral behavior of absorbing aerosol optical depth, single scattering albedo, and imaginary refractive index. The aerosol radiative efficiencies for the dust, mixed-type, and anthropogenic aerosols are −101.0, −112.9, and −98.3 Wm${}^{-\mathrm{2}}{\mathit{\tau }}^{-\mathrm{1}}$ at the bottom of the atmosphere (BOA); −42.3, −22.5, and −39.8 Wm${}^{-\mathrm{2}}{\mathit{\tau }}^{-\mathrm{1}}$ at the top of the atmosphere (TOA); and 58.7, 90.3, and 58.5 Wm${}^{-\mathrm{2}}{\mathit{\tau }}^{-\mathrm{1}}$ in the atmosphere (ATM), respectively. The BOA cooling and ATM heating efficiencies of the mixed-type aerosols are significantly higher than those of the unmixed aerosol types over the East Asia region, resulting in atmospheric stabilization. In addition, the mixed-type aerosols correspond to a lower TOA cooling efficiency, indicating that the cooling effect by the corresponding individual aerosol components is partially counteracted. We conclude that the interaction between dust and anthropogenic pollution not only represents a viable aerosol formation pathway but also results in unfavorable dispersion conditions, both exacerbating the regional air pollution in East Asia. Our results highlight the necessity to accurately account for the mixing state of aerosols in atmospheric models over East Asia in order to better understand the formation mechanism for regional air pollution and to assess its impacts on human health, weather, and climate.

The atmospheric boundary layer height was derived at two locations in the city of Lanzhou (China) and its suburb rural area Yuzhong. The aerosol backscatter lidar measurements were analysed using a wavelet technology and the parcel method was applied to profiling microwave radiometer observations. For a few occasions the average boundary layer height and entrainment zone thickness was derived in convective situations at Yuzhong. Results from selected observation days show that both datasets agree in strong convective situations. However, for weak convective situations the lidar measurements reveal boundary layer heights that are higher compared to the microwave observations, because a decrease of the thermal boundary layer height does not directly lead to a change of aerosols in that altitude layer. Finally, the entrainment zone thicknesses are compared with theoretical predictions, and the results show that the measurements are compatible with theoretical models.

To gain an insight into the characteristics of turbulence in a stable boundary layer over the complex terrain of the Loess Plateau, data from the Semi‐Arid Climate and Environment Observatory of Lanzhou University are analyzed. We propose a method to identify and efficiently isolate nonstationary motions from turbulence series, and then we examine the characteristics of nonstationary motions (nonstationary motions refer to gusty events on a greater scale than local shear‐generated turbulence). The occurrence frequency of nonstationary motions is found to depend on the mean flow, being more frequent in weak wind conditions and vanishing when the wind speed, U, is greater than 3.0 m s⁻¹. When U exceeds the threshold value of 1.0 m s⁻¹ for the gradient Richardson number Ri ≤ 0.3 and 1.5 m s⁻¹ for Ri > 0.3, local shear‐generated turbulence on timescales of less than 4 min depends systematically on U with an average rate of 0.05 U. However, for the weak wind condition, neither the mean wind speed nor the stability is an important factor for local turbulence. Then turbulence is categorized into three regimes based on the behaviors of nonstationary motions and local turbulence. Regime 1 considers stationary turbulence with a wind speed greater than 3.0 m s⁻¹, and the Monin‐Obukhov similarity theory (MOST) can be used to calculate the turbulence momentum flux. Regime 2 examines intermittent turbulence where the MOST is competent to evaluate the local turbulence momentum flux but not nonstationary motions. Regime 3 involves wind speed that is less than the threshold value, where nonstationary motions are dominant, local turbulence is independent of the mean flow, and where the MOST may well be invalid.

Operational cloud seeding has been implemented to alleviate local precipitation shortages in China for over half a century. Here, we present quantitative evidence for the effect of AgI seeding on supercooled layer clouds with a top cloud temperature of −15°C in China, as documented for the first time by a combination of radar, satellite, and disdrometer observations. A radar signature appeared 18 min after seeding, shortly followed by a visible glaciated seeding track. The seeding signature expanded horizontally at a rate of ∼1.4 and ∼0.3 m s⁻¹ before and after 04:25 UTC. The radar signature descended to the surface 40 min after seeding. A disdrometer captured the precipitation of the first seeded raindrops that reached maximum diameter of 2.75 mm compared to the maximum diameter of 1 mm of the light background rain. The enhanced surface rainfall was observed within the subsequent 100 min. A conceptual model for the formation and expansion of the seeding track is presented. Although the precipitation was light, it is a promising step toward the goal of quantifying the impact of cloud seeding in China.