Mineral dust emission accounts for a substantial portion of particles present in the troposphere. It is emitted mostly from desert areas, mainly through intense storm episodes. The aim of this work was to quantify sizesegregated fluxes of mineral dust particles emitted during storm events occurring in desert areas of northern China (Alashan desert, Inner Mongolia), known to act as one of the st...

Dust isn't just a nuisance—its ability to clog human airways and carry pathogens poses a human health problem. In the sub-Saharan region of Africa, the World Health Organization pinpointed dust storms exacerbated by the dry season and drought as a cause of outbreaks of meningococcal meningitis. Dust from Saharan storms can reach as far away as Florida, with particles smaller than 2.5 µm traveli...

Mineral dust particles include many different components, but are often treated by models as insoluble resulting in limited activation to cloud droplets. Experimental critical supersaturations of mineral dust particles 0.2 μm in diameter from different sources indicate that their composition is partially soluble. Using a Köhler model, the soluble fraction of each dust sample was calculated from...

BACKGROUND For individual exposures, effect modification by atopy or smoking has been reported on the occurrence of occupational airway disease. It is unclear if effect modification can be studied in a general population by an aggregated exposure measure. Assess relationship between airway obstruction and occupational exposure using a job-exposure-matrix (JEM) classifying jobs into 3 broad type...

[1] Calculations from a microphysics model are shown which indicate the factors that control droplet nucleation scavenging of hydrophilic mineral dust particles over a large range of conditions including the size, chemical composition, and number density of particles in both cumulus and stratus clouds. We focus specifically on the activation threshold radius (ATR) for droplet nucleation which d...

The recently developed Zurich Ice Nucleation Chamber (ZINC) was used to explore ice nucleation of size-selected mineral dust particles at temperatures between −20C and −55C. Four different mineral dust species have been tested: montmorillonite, kaolinite, illite and Arizona test dust (ATD). The selected particle diameters are 100 nm, 200 nm, 400 nm and 800 nm. Relative humidities with respect t...

Recent investigations of the fundamental mechanisms of the mineral dust diseases have substantially increased our understanding of the pathogenesis of the pneumoconioses. In all the mineral dust pneumoconioses, the initial early lung lesion is a fibrosing macrophagic alveolitis. The additional contribution of other lung cell populations is currently under investigation and may identify specific...