Soil wind erosion is an important threat to the global ecological and environmental security of arid and semi-arid area. Vegetation can effectively reduce the risk of soil wind erosion by reducing wind speed and capturing soil particles. At present， people's understanding of the optimal pattern and coverage of vegetation controlling soil wind erosion still needs to be deepened. With the help of a mobile wind tunnel in the field， this article measured the response of surface sediment transport rate and wind sand flow structure to the coverage of herbaceous plants （Astragalus adsurgens）. The results show that： （1） When the vegetation coverage is small， the distribution curve of wind sand flow structure follows the exponential function distribution law. With the increase of vegetation coverage， the curve shape appears differentiation. （2） Vegetation coverage can effectively reduce the intensity of soil wind erosion and raise the height of sand transport. （3） The surface aerodynamic roughness and vegetation coverage follow a logarithmic function variation law， and their growth rate gradually decreases and eventually approaches zero with the increase of vegetation coverage. There is a threshold phenomenon in the aerodynamic roughness of the underlying surface. （4） The optimal coverage of Astragalus adsurgens for controlling soil wind erosion is about 30%， which can effectively suppress about 90% of wind erosion below a height of 20 cm.

The 10 years period of “Culture Revolution” from 1966 to 1976 had hindered the practice on prevention and control of aeolian desertification and the development of desert science to a certain degree. Nonetheless， relied on the foundation laid over the past decade， the science， technology and engineering teams from all levels of national to provincial and local carried on with scientific research， technological development and engineering implementation， field long-term observations and experiments， laboratory sample analysis and data statistics， blowing sand wind tunnel experiment， summary of results and writing of papers and monographs， etc. These efforts had obtained a batch of achievements， in which some of typical progress can be expressed as follows. （1） The construction and application of blowing sand wind tunnel created the pioneering work of wind tunnel experiment for prevention and control of aeolian desertification and research on law of wind-blown sand movement in China. （2） Some new results have been made in process and prevention of wind-sand disaster to the desert railway by systematically conducted on engineering technology experiments and theoretical research. （3） The work exchange meeting on desert control research of Chinese Academy of Sciences had successfully held in Lanzhou in March of 1975， which timely concluded and presented the theoretical and practical achievements and levels. （4） Systematically summarized the results of scientific investigations， observations， experiments， research， and practice， so that many scientific papers have been published as well as a series of monographs compiled and edited. There were some encouraged results of exploration and innovation on the distribution and general characteristics of deserts， causes of desert formation， source of sand material rising right on the spot， feature of wind-blown sand movement， formation and evolution mechanism of sand dunes in China and the development of aeolian geomorphology， morphological characteristics and movement patterns of sand dunes， regionalization of aeolian geomorphology and several landform issues for preventing blown sand disaster in the Taklamakan Desert. Other system summary results also delivered such as the management of farmland wind-blown sand disaster， railway's prevention and control of wind-blown sand damage， desert railway engineering construction as well as the successful experiences and effective measures from the Xinjiang， Gansu and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. All of the achievements and progress promoted the theoretical exploration and systematic composition of desert science in China.

Dusty weather is an extreme weather phenomenon that occurs frequently in the northern China. It leads to a turbidity of the air and a sharp decline in visibility， causing adverse effects on various aspects of human society. Dust aerosols transported into the atmosphere by strong winds also have a significant impact on weather and climate by modulating atmospheric radiation budget and cloud microphysics. Accurate identification and forecasting of dusty weather are of great significance in ecological protection and climate change mitigation. This paper provides a comprehensive review of recent research on methods for identifying and forecasting dust events. Important methods are described in detail， and their advantages and disadvantages are analyzed and compared. Finally， this paper summarizes the research achievements related to the identification and forecasting of dusty weather and proposes valuable future research directions.

The rapid and accurate mapping of desert type distribution is of great significance for environmental protection and ecological restoration. However， due to the influence of spectral and resolution factors， the current research on the extraction of information about different desert types is obviously insufficient. In this study， Dulan County of Qinghai Province was selected as a typical area. The desert was classified based on GEE platform and multi-source data， and the classification performance of different classification features combined with three machine learning methods （RF， SVM and CART） was compared and evaluated. The results show that （1） RF outperforms CART and SVM， and the overall classification accuracy using the RF classifier and spectral features， radar features， terrain features and texture features is the highest， with an overall accuracy of 95.68%， a Kappa coefficient of 0.95， an F_M score of 94.28%， and an obtained desert area of Dulan County is 29 039 km2. （2） In the assessment of feature importance scores， elevation and VH contribute more to the desert classification， while other features do not contribute much. （3） Based on the use of spectral data， radar features are the most helpful for identifying gravel and loamy deserts， while terrain features are more suitable for identifying other types of deserts.

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification （UNCCD） is one of the important multilateral agreements involving global environmental protection and sustainable development. It has promoted international cooperation and jointly combat land desertification and drought. Since the signing of the UNCCD， the Chinese government has actively carried out international implementation work and makes remarkable achievements. However， desertification is still a major challenge facing the world. By combing the main contents of the previous conferences of the parties， the international implementation process was divided into three stages： the construction， exploration and substantive progress of the implementation mechanism. On this basis， this paper systematically reviewed and summarized China's implementation progress and international influence in terms of implementation mechanism and institutional operation， legal system construction， technological exploration， ecological engineering construction， sand industry development and international cooperation. The main problems were also discussed in the UNCCD implementation， and further countermeasures and suggestions for China’s implementation of the UNCCD in the new era of governance of mountain-river-forest-farmland-lake-grass-sand system to building a more perfect desertification combat system.

In order to explore the windbreak and sand-fixation effects of typical shrub plants in the desert-oasis transitional zone in the middle reaches of the Heihe River， through field investigation and observation experiments， the influence laws of sand-fixation plants Haloxylon ammodendron， Nitraria sphaerocarpa， and Calligonum mongolicum on the quantity and structure of wind-blown sand flow were quantitatively analyzed， and the influence mechanism was analyzed using the principles of aerodynamics. The results showed that the windbreak effect was Haloxylon ammodendron>Calligonum mongolicum>Nitraria sphaerocarpa， and there was a significant difference between the windward side and the leeward side. The windbreak effect of Haloxylon ammodendron was more significant than that of other shrub plants， with the maximum wind speed reduction ratio of 62.9% and the maximum effective protection distance. The sand blocking efficiency of Haloxylon ammodendron， Nitrariasphaerocarpa and Calligonum mongolicum were 60.7%， 51.0% and 46.3% respectively， and the sediment transport rate of each shrub plant decreased with height in a stepwise manner under the same wind speed. The relationship between sediment transport rate of shrub vegetation and wind speed conforms to exponential function or polynomial function. The sediment transport rate increases most rapidly when the wind speed exceeds 7.0 m·s^-1. Comprehensive analysis shows that the wind resistance effect of Haloxylon ammodendron is better than that of Nitraria sphaerocarpa and Calligonum mongolicum， but its near surface wind erosion prevention effect is average. Nitraria sphaerocarpa exhibits good wind erosion resistance due to its low and dense plant structure， but its effective protection distance is the smallest， and its wind erosion prevention effect is poor when the height is large. This result can provide a reference basis for the construction of sand-fixing vegetation in the desert oasis transitional zone in the middle reaches of the Heihe River.

Exploring the response of evapotranspiration （ET） spatio-temporal pattern to the East Asian summer monsoon （EASM） is important to understand the terrestrial hydrological cycle. The paper focuses on the summer monsoon transition zone （SMTZ） in China where the climate is rather sensitive to summer monsoon activity， and analyzed the response of ET in the SMTZ to EASM activity. The study evaluated six global ET products widely used based on ET observation data collected from fourteen sites over Northern China，and then conducted a comparison of them in interannual variations of ET over SMTZ. Results indicate that JRA-55（Japanese 55-Year Reanalysis） can simulate ET at the site scale well， and reasonably depict the long-term interannual variation of the average ET over the SMTZ. Therefore， JRA-55 is used as the reference ET data set in this study. The summer monsoon activity is identified over the SMTZ by adopting a monsoon temporal duration index （MTDI） which is related with interannual variations of summer rainfall more closely than commonly used summer monsoon intensity indexes. This study found an obviously unlinear response of evapotranspiration to MTDI and the evapotranspiration exhibits approximately logarithmic/power function curve with the MTDI. High interannual variability of evapotranspiration was observed due to high sensitivity to MTDI during weak EASM years. The result from ensemble empirical mode decomposition further indicates that the summer monsoon activity significantly affects the evapotranspiration variation on three-year， interdecadal and long-term scales. The summer monsoon activity is expected to strengthen in the future， which is very likely to intensify the water cycle and affect the availability of water resources and the ecosystem stability over the SMTZ.

At present， there is a lack of comprehensive understanding of the surface flow patterns over barchan dunes， especially the complex flow structure in the vortices zone， and thus further research is needed on the influence of morphological characteristics and flow velocity on the flow structure of barchan dunes. In this paper， the airflow characteristics over the surface of barchan dunes under different geometric parameters and different inlet velocities were studied using the CFD （Computational Fluid Dynamics） numerical simulation and the RNG k-ε turbulence model， focusing on the flow characteristics of the leeward side vortices zone and the relationship between its range and the geometric parameters of the dunes and the inlet velocities. The results show that： （1） The higher the height of the barchan dune， the larger the length of the wake vortices zone is， approximately 5-7 times the height of the dune. （2） The greater the gradient of the windward slope of the barchan dune， the greater the length of the wake vortices zone is， approximately 5-7 times the height of the dune. （3） The influence of inlet velocity on the position of the reattachment point is quite limited， and the length of the vortex zone caused by different inlet velocities is about 6-7 times the height of the dune， suggesting that the larger the inlet velocity is， the shorter the length of the wake protected zone and the smaller the disturbance of the dune on the flow can be found. This study comprehensively analyzes the shaping effect of the flow patterns on the shape of barchan dunes and further confirms the cause of the formation of small barchan dunes on the downstream of the horns of the upwind barchan dunes. Collectively， the current results can deepen the understanding of the evolution mechanism of barchan dune formation， and enrich the basic theory of aeolian geomorphology.

To explore the impact of human activities on the aquatic ecosystem in the upper reaches of the Yellow River， the species composition， inhabit density， biomass， dominant species and the aquatic physiochemical parameters were investigated in August 2021 of the Gansu section of the Yellow River. A total of 32 macrozoobenthos species including 25 species of arthropods （78.13%）， 5 species of mollusks （15.63%） and 2 species of annelids （6.25%） were identified. The dominant species were Sigara substriata， Ampumixis sp.， Palaemon modestus， Gammarus sp.， Radix Auricularia and Radix ovata in the whole study area. An obvious spatial heterogeneity in existing stock， with the values the density and biomass to be 271 ind.·m² and 18.0105 g·m² in the downstream section， and 95 ind.·m² and 4.1275 g·m² in the upstream section， respectively. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index and Margalef richness index were showed the downstream section greater than the upstream section， but the Pielou evenness index have little change along the way. The water quality was observed better in the upstream section sites than in the downstream section sites based on the evaluation results of integrated biological index and comprehensive pollution index， and the best water quality site is Y6. The water quality of Gansu section of the Yellow River generally reaches the limit of Class II surface water， the water quality of rivers is significantly improved after being purified by reservoirs and wetlands. According to the correlation matrix analysis between macrozoobenthos and environmental factors and RDA analysis， altitude and potassium permanganate are the key environmental factors affecting the benthos community structure in Gansu section of the Yellow River. Comprehensive macrozoobenthos community structure and water quality analysis， it shows that the water environment in the reservoir area and wetland is the best water. The water quality in the upstream natural reach is better than that in the downstream natural reach， but the biodiversity and abundance in the downstream reach are higher than that in the upstream reach.

The Second National Conference on Combating Desert had been held in September， 1959 in Urumqi， which further to demonstrate the attention and expectation from the state's responsibility for prevention and control of aeolian desertification. In the years that followed， the Scientific Investigation Team for Combating Deserts， CAS and relevant provincial （autonomous region） departments carried out a more systematic investigation， experiment， research and practice. This paper focus on following three parts： （1） Based on the experimental investigations in the filed fixed station and semi-fixed station to comprehensive control of the desert， the author discusses some progress and function in the selection and introduction of plant species for moving dune fixing and optimal allocation， the mechanical sand fixation， the moving dune's moisture state and its stabilization and afforestation， the transpiration intensity of the major psammophytes， the process of soil formation in the fixed quicksand area and the dune soil microorganisms， etc. （2） Based on the research results of several major scientific and technological issues in prevention and control of aeolian desertification， the author discusses some main progress and function in the cause of the desert， the relationship between moving regular pattern of sand dune and wind prevention and sand-fixation， the assessment of aircraft seeding， the vegetation types and their evolution law in desert， the psammophytes characteristics， rational use of grassland in desert， the classification of the Gobi Desert and its transformation and utilization， water resources and their utilization， etc. （3） The author expounds briefly the process and the achievements of prevention and control of aeolian desertification during the establishment of the People's Republic of China （PRC） from 1949 to 1965，which affirmed the research objectives， formed the spirit of pioneering dedication and effective research method， and formed preliminarily in theory， practice， team and platform of the desert science. Thus laid the foundation and conditions for the start-up and pioneering of China Desert Science， so that let it enter the development period smoothly.

Understanding the sustainable development level of each province in the Yellow River Basin can guide the formulation and implementation of high-quality development policies in the Yellow River Basin. Taking nine provinces in the Yellow River Basin as the research object， the four evaluation indicators of footprint depth， ecological utilization efficiency index， eco-economic coordination index and ecological footprint diversity index are calculated based on the improved energy ecological footprint model， on which the entropy weight method is used to calculate the comprehensive sustainable development index to evaluate the comprehensive sustainable development level of the nine provinces of the Yellow River Basin from 2009 to 2020. The results show that： （1） From 2009 to 2020， the footprint depth of all provinces except Qinghai Province exceeds 1； （2） From 2009 to 2020， all provinces show an overall decreasing trend in the ecological utilization efficiency index， among which Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region has the largest decrease of 57.55%； （3） From 2009 to 2020， the ecological and economic coordination indexes of four provinces， namely Shanxi， Shandong， Henan and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region， do not exceed 1.05， all of which are lower than those of the remaining provinces； （4） From 2009 to 2020， the ecological footprint diversity indexes of Gansu Province all exceed 1， all of which are higher than those of the remaining provinces； （5） From 2009 to 2020， both Sichuan and Qinghai provinces are at sustainable development level， Gansu and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region fluctuate between fairly sustainable and slightly unsustainable， and the rest of the provinces are at unsustainable development level， among which Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region fluctuates between slightly unsustainable and fairly unsustainable， Shandong and Henan Province are at fairly unsustainable year-round， Shanxi Province fluctuates between fairly unsustainable and very unsustainable， and Shaanxi Province is very unsustainable year-round. In the future， sustainable development strategies need to be developed and implemented according to local conditions to promote high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin.

Dust emission in soil wind erosion is one of the core topics in international aeolian research， which develops rapidly in recent years， but the introduction of its research progress is not systematic and comprehensive. This paper combs the research history of dust emission in soil wind erosion at home and abroad， divides the research stages for the first time， refines the main research results of each stage， and introduces some new understandings of the dust emission mechanism. Based on the reclassification of dust emission models， the model establishing process， advantages and disadvantages of various models and their applications in global and regional dust models are introduced. This paper puts forward some hot and difficult issues in the current dust emission research， hoping to provide some reference for relevant scholars to carry out research work in this field.

The effect of dust storm on human living and production do not speak for themselves. Dust storm occurrence days decreased in recently 70 years， but it had been obviously increased since 2021， and attracted a lot of attentions. However， all the published papers were based on simulation or dust geochemistry， and almost no field data. We used field measurement of sand transport， PM₁₀ concentration and transported aeolian sediment grain size to explain the dust hazard in the dust sources during a strong dust storm. Our results indicated that： （1） Wind velocity was much larger in the dust sources than national weather station data. （2） PM₁₀ concentration can reach to 100 mg·m^-3， and is also larger than national measured data. （3） Sand transport reached to 10 kg·m^-1·h^-1， and dust can be transported longer distance. （4） The mean grain size of transported aeolian material was 0.07 mm， and coarse sand frequency can reach to 9%， and PM₁₀ frequency can reach to 8%. Coarse sand impacted on erodible land surface and caused more dust come into air and supplemented dust concentration in the sources. （5） Sand transport rate increased about 2 times， PM₁₀ concentration increased 2.90 time， and PM₁₀ frequency increased 1.29 time on disturbed land surface than undisturbed land surface， which means that protected gobi land surface can greatly decreased dust material during dust storm.

According to the requirement from the First National Conference on Combating Desert in November， 1958， the Chinese Academy of Sciences organized rapidly the Scientific Investigation Team for Combating Deserts （SITCD， CAS） in the January， 1959 and carried out fieldwork soon， which was the maximal national desert comprehensive survey up to now with the widest areas， the most complete majors， the most diverse team members， and the most concentrated campaigns. This paper， as the pioneering part （1） of the practice on prevention and control of aeolian desertification and the development of desert science in China for 70 years， briefly retrospect the results and experience from a smaller scale desert survey in 1957 and 1958， which was cooperative implemented by Chinese Academy of Sciences and Academy of Sciences of the USSR， and talk over the achievement and positive impacts from the desert comprehensive survey of the Scientific Investigation Team for Combating Deserts， Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1959. Based on the references and available data， every Investigation Team Branch for different desert and Gobi in Northern China had reported the progression of field-survey and the analysis and research mostly focused on the distribution of deserts/Gobi， different genetic types， sand material source area， hazards of sand blown， desert control measures， socioeconomic status， agriculture， forestry， and animal husbandry production. We also specially discus and praise highly the followings milestone events such as （1） the pioneering and development of desert science is the practiced paragon of “task promoting subject development”， （2） “national demand is our first choice” radiated the scientist’s enthusiasm and dedication spirit during 1950s， （3） professional selection and prominent contribution of 8 distinguished scientists， and （4） the international cooperation assisted development of desert science in China.

As one of the main distribution areas of plateau deserts in China， the Qaidam Basin Desert is located in the western part of Qinghai Province， with various types of riverine dune development， which is important for studying the morphological development of aeolian geomorphology and the formation and evolution of deserts. Ground penetrating radar （GPR） was used to detect two typical compound crescent dunes on the right bank of lower reaches of Tora River， three detecting lines parallel to the wind direction were arranged and radar facies image information was obtained. Combined with UAV images， remote sensing images and field actual investigation， the aeolian sand sedimentary structure and sedimentary environment in the study area are comprehensively analyzed. The results indicate that： （1） The antenna of 100 MHz， 0.5 m detection step and 1 m antenna spacing are selected for the detection， and the ground-penetrating radar images show a good correspondence with the UAV images， so it is feasible to detect the internal structure of the compound crescent dune with these parameters. （2） The depositional structures inside the compound crescent dune in the lower reaches of Tora River are of various types， and the forward accretion layer and vertical accretion layer are widely developed. （3） Both the river and the dunes are moving to the southeast， and the scale of the development process is continuously decreasing and the two flanks are elongating， gradually becoming asymmetric. （4） The development of the compound crescentic dunes in the lower Tora River is divided into three periods： rapid development stage， fixed wind erosion stage， and erosion residual accretion stage.