BACKGROUND The impact of dust storms on human health has been studied in the context of Asian, Saharan, Arabian, and Australian storms, but there has been no recent population-level epidemiological research on the dust storms in North America. The relevance of dust storms to public health is likely to increase as extreme weather events are predicted to become more frequent with anticipated chan...

Northern China was hit by a severe dust storm on 15 March 2021, covering large area and bring devastating impact to degree that unprecedented in more than decade. In the study, we carried out day-and-night continuous monitoring path of moving dust, using multi-spectral data from Chinese FY-4A satellite combined with Japanese Himawary-8 visible near-infrared, mid-infrared far-infrared bands. We ...

[1] The Bodélé depression of northern Chad is considered one of the world’s largest sources of atmospheric mineral dust. Mineral composition of such transported dust is essential to our understanding of climate forcing, mineralogy of dust sources, aerosol optical properties, and mineral deposition to Amazon forests. In this study we examine hyperspectral information acquired over the Bodélé by ...

The Thermal Emission Spectrometer spectra of low albedo surface materials suggests that a four to one mixture of pyroxene to plagioclase, together with about a 35 percent dust component provides the best fit to the spectrum. Qualitative upper limits can be placed on the concentration of carbonates (<10 percent), olivine (<10 percent), clay minerals (<20 percent), and quartz (<5 percent) in the ...

An operational model for the forecast of dust storms in Northern Africa, the Middle East and Southwest Asia has been developed for the United States Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA). The dust forecast model uses the 5th generation Penn State Mesoscale Meteorology Model (MM5) as input to the University of Colorado CARMA dust transport model. AFWA undertook a 60 day evaluation of the effectiveness...

Natural mineral dust storms (DS) from the Arabo-African region blow over the Mediterranean, reach Israel, and add to the anthropogenic particulate pollution. The effects of mineral dust on air quality in Israel were investigated using only PM10 and PM2.5 automatic measurements. The method does not require any other inputs such as satellite observations, model back-trajectories, dust forecast mo...

The Thermal Emission Spectrometer aboard the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft has produced an extensive atmospheric data set, beginning during aerobraking and continuing throughout the extended scientific mapping phase. Temperature profiles for the atmosphere below about 40 km, surface temperatures and total dust and water ice opacities, can be retrieved from infrared spectra in nadir viewing mo...

The Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) is the National Supercomputer Facility in Spain, hosting MareNostrum, one of the most powerful Supercomputers in Europe. The Earth Sciences Department of BSC operates daily regional dust and air quality forecasts and conducts intensive modelling research for short-term operational prediction. This contribution summarizes the latest developments and curr...

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang) is located near the western border of China. Xinjiang has a high frequency of dust storms, especially in late winter and early spring. Geostationary satellite remote sensing offers an ideal way to monitor the regional distribution and intensity of dust storms, which can impact the regional climate. In this study observations from the Indian Natio...

Dust storms have impacts on both human and physical environments, associated with an increase in atmospheric particulate matter (PM) concentrations. Most studies on exposure to PM have focused on the outdoor air, while information on indoor pollution, is still lacking. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of desert dust events on PM concentrations in indoor environments. A total of o...