Study on the life cycle of an ice cloud system over the Taklamakan desert using multi-source data

Su, Lian; Xia, Haiyun; Lu, Chunsong; Yuan, Jinlong; Wu, Kenan; Wei, Tianwen; Wang, Xiaofei; He, Qing; Elshora, Mohamed; Luo, Xi; Li, Xinyang

doi:10.5194/amt-19-2657-2026

Articles | Volume 19, issue 8

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-2657-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-2657-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 8

Research article

|

20 Apr 2026

Research article |

| 20 Apr 2026

Study on the life cycle of an ice cloud system over the Taklamakan desert using multi-source data

Lian Su, Haiyun Xia, Chunsong Lu, Jinlong Yuan, Kenan Wu, Tianwen Wei, Xiaofei Wang, Qing He, Mohamed Elshora, Xi Luo, and Xinyang Li

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-2657-2026-supplement

Data sets

ice_crystal_cloud_lidar_datas Lian Su https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.25432984

ERA5 hourly data on pressure levels from 1940 to present Hans Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.bd0915c6

MERRA-2 tavg1_2d_adg_Nx: 2d,1-Hourly,Time-averaged,Single-Level,Assimilation,Aerosol Diagnostics (extended) V5.12.4 Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) https://doi.org/10.5067/HM00OHQBHKTP

Short summary

1. The formation of ice crystal clouds catalyzed by dust aerosols were observed by coherent Doppler wind lidar in the Taklimakan Desert. 2. The wind provides a dynamic basis for the formation of ice crystal clouds and plays an important role in the decomposition process. 3. The special basin topography, turbulence and downdrafts keep the base height of the ice crystal clouds at around 3 km.