Local Intermittency of Electrified Dust Storms in the Near-Surface Layer

Dust storms are unique dispersed two-phase turbulent flows laden with charged particles, where significant coupling occurs between dust particles and turbulence, as well as between particles and electric fields. Existing works have mainly focused on the intermittent behavior of multiple physical fields in the region far from the surface, where the interphase couplings are weak. As a result, limited attention has been paid to the intermittent behavior of multiple physical fields near the surface. Here, by combining wavelet analysis approaches and the observed data of wind velocity, PM10 dust concentration, and electric field at a height of 0.9 m above the surface during dust storms, we uncover the local intermittent characteristics of multiple physical fields when the interphase couplings are relatively strong. Our findings indicate that PM10 dust concentration and electric field exhibit similar time-averaged intermittent behavior, but with more pronounced intermittency compared to wind velocity. Additionally, the PM10 dust concentration and electric field display relatively sparse local intermittency in the time domain. These results will contribute to our understanding of the multi-field characteristics of complex dispersed two-phase flows.