170 
Dabson Salt Lake : It is situated at 60 km north of Germo city. The lake is steady, clean with a large amount 
of concentrated salt water. Its average depth is 2 m. 
3.2. Meteorological conditions 
Germo West Gobi : This area is a closed plateau in the interior region of China. The climate is continental 
and affected by the altitude. It is known as one of the driest zones of China. The rainfall is very low (around 40 
mm annual rainfall) and the evaporation is quite high. 
The average climate is mild but the temperature difference between day and night and between 
seasons, is very large. As the weather is usually clear, the sunshine duration and the sun radiation are very 
high. 
The meteorological conditions of Germo are summarized in Table 3. Three periods are considered 
1956 - 1980, 1971 - 1980 and 1981 - 1990. They show the stability of the climatic conditions. 
Table 3 : Meteorological data of Germo city. 
Meteorological 
factors 
Observation 
years 
Month 
Year 
! 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11 
12 
Fine days 
(days) 
56-80 
29.0 
25.5 
26.6 
26.2 
23.3 
18.3 
17.1 
19.6 
22.2 
27.2 
28.5 
29.9 
293.3 
81-90* 
28.3 
24.4 
23.8 
22.9 
20.6 
15.8 
16.5 
19.0 
19.8 
26.8 
28.0 
29.3 
275.2 
81 -90** 
7.6 
3.1 
1.6 
3.0 
2.2 
2.7 
4.6 
7.4 
5.6 
9.3 
10.6 
8.6 
66.3 
Precipitations 
(mm) 
56-80 
0.6 
0.5 
0.9 
1.2 
4.0 
6.5 
9.4 
7.8 
5.2 
1.3 
0.9 
0.3 
38.8 
71-80 
0.2 
0.7 
0.6 
0.8 
2.0 
8.0 
13.2 
6.1 
4.4 
1.9 
1.0 
0.5 
39.5 
81-90 
44.2 
Relative humidity 
(%) 
56-80 
41 
31 
36 
25 
27 
32 
36 
36 
34 
32 
36 
40 
33 
71-80 
38 
30 
26 
24 
25 
32 
37 
34 
33 
29 
34 
38 
32 
81-90 
32 
Temperature 
(°C) 
56-80 
-10.9 
-6.7 
- 0.2 
6.5 
11.5 
15.3 
17.6 
16.7 
11.5 
3.8 
-4.6 
-9.9 
4.2 
81-90 
5.1 
Atmospheric 
pressure 
(hPa) 
56-80 
723 
722 
723 
724 
724 
724 
724 
725 
727 
729 
728 
726 
724.7 
71-80 
723 
721 
723 
734 
724 
724 
724 
725 
723 
729 
729 
726 
724.8 
81 -90 
Days with strong 
wind 
56-80 
0.2 
1.3 
2.6 
3.1 
4.4 
3.7 
3.8 
2.0 
0.7 
0.3 
0.2 
0.1 
22.4 
81-90 
20.0 
Sand & dust 
storms 
56-80 
0.5 
0.6 
2.6 
3.0 
2.5 
1.8 
1.4 
0.9 
0.3 
0.3 
0.4 
0.2 
15.4 
81-90 
15.0 
Flying sand 
81-90 
30.0 
Floating dust 
81-90 
12.0 
Dunhuang Gobi : This city is in the interior area of China. It is surrounded by the Gobi desert with a typical 
dry continental climate. It is characterized by a clear atmosphere, a strong solar radiation, high summer 
temperatures, low rainfalls and high evaporation as it can be seen in Table 4.