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Sources: All information stated in this article is based on reliable information, and is summarized at the end of this article
The name of the Taklamakan Desert is a literal translation of the Uyghur language, which means: If you go in, you can't get out.
The ancient country of Loulan in the past, now the largest desert in the mainland, is obviously arid, but there are more than 700 lakes?
Just this year, the Taklamakan Desert ushered in a heavy rainstorm that has not been seen in decades.
So, what is the reason behind such heavy rainfall? And how will climate change change the lives of local people?
Taklamakan Desert – The largest desert in China
The Taklamakan Desert is located in the northwest of the continent, crisscrossing the Tarim Basin, with an area of 320,000 square kilometers, which is almost half of all deserts on the mainland.
There are many sand dunes in the Taklamakan Desert, and almost all of them are more than 100 meters high, which makes the area windy and sandy, and almost uninhabited.
The mysterious terrain and climate of the Taklamakan Desert have attracted many people's curiosity throughout its long history, and there have even been adventurers who have taken the initiative to explore the area.
Swedish explorer Sven Hedin has explored the Taklamakan Desert three times, but none of them have broken through the desert with his own efforts, and even almost died in the endless desert.
In order to investigate and study the Taklamakan Desert, mainland scientists have also sent professional teams to explore it several times, but they have also failed to make a major breakthrough, and even the famous scientist Pengamu has disappeared in the yellow sand.
The Taklamakan Desert Dry Desert was not so uninhabited at the beginning, it was once the location of the ancient kingdom of Loulan, and even once became the thriving place of the ancient civilization of Loulan.
However, with the passage of time, the terrain and climate of the area have changed dramatically, and now only some very drought-tolerant plants remain, and there is no trace of life in the local area.
The desert, which had not received rain for many years, suddenly flooded
Although the local people have been working hard to improve the environment in and around the Taklamakan Desert under the leadership of the state, human beings are ultimately insignificant in the face of nature, and for many years, the Taklamakan Desert dry desert has remained very arid and inaccessible.
But in recent years, the climate has changed.
In late June 2019, heavy rains continued to fall in southern Xinjiang. In the summer of 2021, the Taklamakan Desert region was hit by floods not seen in decades, and even the local roads and power infrastructure were greatly affected, affecting more than 300 square kilometers of the affected area.
In October 2022, the Taklamakan Desert was dotted with small lakes in the Taklamakan Desert amid an overflow of the river, a scene that had almost never occurred in previous decades.
This summer, rainfall has also occurred in the Taklamakan Desert, mainly in the hinterland of the Taklamakan Desert.
In response to years of rainfall, the public has begun to speculate about the future direction of the Taklamakan Desert. Perhaps, with the continuous rainfall, the Taklamakan Desert could one day become an oasis?
There are even some unconfirmed reports that more than 700 lakes have appeared in the Taklamakan Desert, and the exaggeration makes everyone wonder what the actual situation is in the Taklamakan Desert.
Is there really a chance that the desert will turn into an oasis? And is such a huge change good or bad for humanity?
The climate does change, but the rumors are exaggerated
Some experts have also explained the gradual increase in rainfall in the Taklamakan Desert and even the situation of disasters.
For example, the 2021 floods were not only due to continuous rainfall, but also due to a sudden increase in flow caused by the melting of snow water from the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang.
In other words, the cause of flooding is closely related to seasonal snowmelt, and not entirely to increased precipitation, as is rumored.
The Xinjiang Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has carefully monitored the climate and environment of the Taklamakan Desert, and the results show that the occasional extreme precipitation events in the Taklamakan Desert are closely related to the current world environment.
Due to the impact of climate warming, precipitation in the northwest is generally increasing, and precipitation is gradually increasing at a rate of 10 mm per year.
However, for the Northwest as a whole, all precipitation totals remain near normal levels.
This is also a response to the rumors that the Taklamakan Desert has become an "oasis", although people can indeed feel the increase in rainfall in the Taklamakan Desert today, but it is not enough to change the environment.
As for the desert turning into an oasis, it is even more nonsense to say that the north of the country has become the south of the Yangtze River.
According to data surveys in recent years, Xinjiang's climate has been undergoing subtle changes for nearly 200 years.
In 2014, the Chinese Academy of Sciences released a study that confirmed that rainfall in Xinjiang had been increasing since 1800 AD.
But now, more than 2,000 years later, the Taklamakan Desert still stands still. This also means that although Xinjiang is gradually becoming wetter, it is not enough to change its original characteristics.
Studies have shown that in some years, precipitation in Xinjiang has not even reached the level of the last century. For example, the average precipitation in Xinjiang over the past 30 years has not exceeded 35 mm.
In fact, the improvement of the overall climate is closely related to human ecological protection activities. In recent decades, the mainland has strengthened the protection of Xinjiang's ecological environment, vigorously restored green vegetation, and implemented artificial ecological water transfer.
These initiatives are closely linked to climate change in Xinjiang today.
According to relevant data from the mainland, in the past 10 years or so, thanks to the efforts of the mainland, the amount of vegetation along the Tarim River has increased by 181 square kilometers.
As a whole with "one prosperity and common prosperity, one loss and one loss", the change of precipitation of the ecosystem is also inseparable from the efforts made by human beings.
It is true that Saibei cannot become Jiangnan, but the efforts of the people on the mainland also interpret the truth that "man will conquer the sky". Although it has not completely changed the status quo of the Taklamakan Desert, at least the efforts have paid off.
Today, the continent is still the country with the largest area of desertification in the world, and such a dire situation still deserves the attention of the public.
For the work of desertification control, more people with lofty ideals are still needed to devote themselves to it, and ecological governance needs everyone's personal participation.
Resources:
The Taklamakan Desert is flooded, and the desert will become an oasis? Meteorological experts explain it this way - the national party media information public platform
The hinterland of the Taklamakan Desert in Bazhou, Xinjiang ushered in rare heavy rains - CCTV
Flooding in the Taklamakan Desert? There is a "traffic password" behind this - surging news
Why did the Taklamakan Desert flood and turn the desert into an oasis? ——China News Weekly