Dust storms fueled by climate change, tillage, and drought are causing the loss of tons of topsoil throughout the Great Plains.
DANA is a partnership of scientists and practitioners with the purpose to
accelerate the transition of dust-related research into service.
With a focus on North America, DANA’s mission is to inspire, support, and promote global science and service collaboration to uncover and adapt knowledge of airborne dust particulates
to mitigate health, safety, and quality of life risks.
The DANA webinar series will highlight different dust-related topics, promote communications and collaborations among members, engage community interests, and enhance public awareness on dust-related challenges under climate change.
The webinars occur on the second Friday of the month at 1PM ET (12PM CT, 11AM MT, 10AM PT)
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The International Society for Aeolian Research (ISAR)’s 11th International Conference on Aeolian Research (ICAR XI) will be July 10-14, 2023 in Las Cruces, New Mexico USA. The mid-conference field trip will visit White Sands National Park and the Jornada Experimental Range.
Abstracts are now being accepted for the International Conference on Aeolian Research (ICAR XI) through March 14. https://www.icarxi.com/present/abstract/
You can register at the early bird rate until the end of February here: https://www.icarxi.com/attend/registration/
Student and Early Career travel grant applications are being accepted. Review will begin on March 15th and applications accepted through May 31st.
https://aeolianresearch.com/membership/isar-student-conference-award-application/
Sessions
41st American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR) Annual Conference
October 2-6, 2023
Portland, OR
Special Symposium:
Aerosol-ecosystem interactions
Organizers:
Celia Faiola (UC Irvine)
Andrew Ault (University of Michigan)
Hosein Foroutan (Virginia Tech)
Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz (Virginia Tech)
Cassie Gaston (University of Miami)
Synopsis:
Aerosols and ecosystems impact each other in wide-ranging ways and the interactions are not one-sided. The gasses and particles emitted by land plants, marine and freshwater algae, and other organisms strongly influence the composition, radiative properties, and health effects of atmospheric aerosols on local, regional, and global scales. At the same time, the presence of aerosols in an environment and their deposition to surfaces can alter the health, growth, and function of the ecosystem as well as the sequestration of carbon dioxide into the terrestrial biosphere and ocean. This symposium seeks to examine these relationships and the ways that aerosols both influence and are influenced by ecosystems. A non-exhaustive list of example topics includes:
– Impacts of aerosol deposition of nutrients or toxins on ecosystem function and carbon cycling,
– Effects of long- and short-term ecosystem changes on aerosol formation, hygroscopicity, and optical properties,
– Emission of primary aerosols and secondary aerosol precursors from vegetation, algal blooms, and other biological sources,
– Impacts of aerosol-driven changes in the quantity and properties of light on ecosystem health and productivity.
We invite abstracts on any research across the full range of physical, chemical, and biological interactions between aerosols and ecosystems. Aerosols may be primary or secondary, and of inorganic, organic, or biological origin. Ecosystem types can include aquatic or terrestrial systems that are natural or managed. We welcome projects using a variety of methodological approaches, including laboratory experiments, field observations, modeling across scales, and remote sensing. Inter- and cross-disciplinary presentations are welcome and encouraged!
More information:
https://www.aaar.org/2023/special-symposia/
Dear colleagues,
We would like to invite you to submit your work on dust to an AGU Special Collection “Dust and dust storms: From physical processes to human health, safety, and welfare”. This special issue will be jointly published by GeoHealth, JGR-Atmospheres, or Earth’s Future.
The scope of the AGU Special Collection is provided below:
Across the world, human exposure to dust particles has been associated with adverse health effects, including asthma, allergies, fungal infections, and premature death. Besides human health, dust also affects environmental health through providing nutrients that increase phytoplankton biomass, contaminating water supply and food (crops/fruits/vegetables and ready-to-eat meat), spreading crop and marine pathogens, causing Valley fever among domestic and wild animals, transporting heavy metals and radionuclides, and reducing solar power generation. Dust storms are also a well-documented safety hazard to road transportation, aviation, and marine navigation. Just like wildfires, dust storms are another inevitable consequence of global warming, driven by the same large scale Earth system changes. Unlike wildfires, which have attracted a lot of public attention and resources, rightly so, dust storms and events are an underappreciated weather hazard, although its societal costs are comparable to that of wildfires. We welcome submissions that focus on both natural and contaminated dust events, that examine dust and dust storms from a multidisciplinary perspective including but not limited to remote sensing, particle toxicology, geochemistry, social sciences using clinical medicine, epidemiological as well as in vivo and in vitro studies, that enhance the knowledge on dust and their health implication.
The submission is open now and until May 31, 2024. To submit your manuscript, use the submission site for GeoHealth, JGR-Atmospheres, or Earth’s Future, and select the collection’s title from the drop down menu in the Special Section field of the submission form.
More information can be found at https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/24711403/call-for-papers.html
Please feel free to share this information with anyone who may be interested. And feel free to contact us with any questions.
Dr. Karin Ardon-Dryer, Texas Tech University
Dr. Daniel Tong, George Mason University
Dr. Junran Li, The University of Hong Kong
WMO and AEMET launch improved website for sand and dust forecasts
Forecasts and warnings of sand and dust storms in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa are now more readily accessible thanks to a new website operated by the Meteorological State Agency of Spain (AEMET) and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS).
Dust is a growing problem. What role does farmland play?
Researchers are investigating the links between modern agriculture and rising incidents of dust storms.
https://www.salon.com/2022/01/25/dust-is-a-growing-problem-what-role-does-farmland-play_partner/
Dry lakebeds become dustpans
Researchers from Brigham Young University, with funding from the National Science Foundation, predict the amount of dust in Utah’s Wasatch Front is only going to increase as water levels decline, turning lakebeds into dustpans. The team feels the amount of dust blown into urban areas could be lowered by preserving lakes through water conservation, allowing more water to flow into the lakes.
Dust clouds are killing people out West—and the dangers could spread
A team of scientists takes on the big threats posed by tiny particles out West.
https://www.popsci.com/environment/dust-clouds-dangerous-air-pollution/
‘Larger than life’ dust-monitoring facility is one of a kind
Are Opportunities to Apply Airborne Dust Research Being Missed?
A new open-access BAMS paper on by William A. Sprigg, Thomas E. Gill, Daniel Q. Tong, Junran Li, Ling Ren, Robert Scott Van Pelt
https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/aop/BAMS-D-22-0034.1/BAMS-D-22-0034.1.xml
Africa’s Earth, Wind, and Fire Keep the Amazon Green
Jet streams sprinkle North African dust over the Amazon, providing the rain forest with much needed nutrients. Changing wind patterns and increasing smoke may shift the system.
What is desert dust and how does it change atmosphere and the air we breathe?
ECMWF Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
Sand and Dust Storms Know No Borders
What is it like to be in a sandstorm? Three experts share their experiences and what’s being done to combat the growing, transboundary menace of sand and dust storms.
How South Dakota’s inability to track soil erosion is putting farmers at risk
Dominik Dausch
Sioux Falls Argus Leader
A Wild, Windy Spring Is Creating a Soil Erosion Nightmare for Farmers
Dust storms fueled by climate change, tillage, and drought are causing the loss of tons of topsoil throughout the Great Plains.
As the Great Salt Lake Dries Up, Utah Faces An ‘Environmental Nuclear Bomb’
Climate change and rapid population growth are shrinking the lake, creating a bowl of toxic dust that could poison the air around Salt Lake City.
NY Times
Monsoon storms bring dust, rain… and health dangers
By Carla Berg
Arizona Department of Health Services
https://directorsblog.health.azdhs.gov/monsoon-storms-bring-dust-rain-and-health-dangers/
The answer to soil health is not blowing in the wind
Whatever the reasons for the increase in blowing topsoil, we need to figure out a solution because the topsoil increasingly is being depleted.
By Ann Bailey
AG Week
https://www.agweek.com/opinion/columns/the-answer-to-soil-health-is-not-blowing-in-the-wind
Legendary dust-monitoring site in Barbados to be reborn, upgraded.
By Robert C. Jones Jr.
University of Miami
News@theU
https://news.miami.edu/stories/2022/07/unique-dust-monitoring-site-in-barbados-to-be-reborn.html
San Joaquin Valley’s next big air pollution threat: Blowing dust from fallowed farmland
By Andrew Ayres and Jaymin Kwon
Fresno Bee
https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/op-ed/article263676138.html
How the tiny dust particles everywhere could be the key to understanding extreme weather and saving lives
The dust-up on dust: Where it settles in our atmosphere has big impacts on climate change.
By Christian Thorsberg
GRID
NASA’s newest climate mission will study Earth’s dramatic dust cycle
Dust is about to get countless new and unique observations.
By Doris Elín Urrutia
Inverse
https://www.inverse.com/science/emit-nasa-earth-dust-climate-change
Dust-up over dust storm link to ‘Valley Fever’ disease
‘Dust Lake City’ disaster looming as Utah professor fights to save the Great Salt Lake
‘It took everything’: the disease that can be contracted by breathing California’s air
Valley fever, derived from a fungus that lives in the US southwest’s soil, is on the rise as climate crisis dries out the landscape
By Dani Anguiano
The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/29/california-valley-fever-disease-climate-crisis
Life with dust: its impacts and how to catch it
EGU Blogs
https://blogs.egu.eu/divisions/nh/2022/04/04/life-with-dust-its-impacts-and-how-to-catch-it/
DRIED UP: In Utah, drying Great Salt Lake leads to air pollution
By Rachel Frazin
The Hill
The American West is experiencing its driest period in human history, a megadrought that threatens health, agriculture and entire ways of life. DRIED UP is examining the dire effects of the drought on the states most affected — as well as the solutions Americans are embracing.
Salt-dust storm near Morse led to 16-vehicle collision: Sask. RCMP
No fatalities from crash involving multiple vehicles last week, police say
CBC
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/salt-dust-storm-morse-collision-1.6581859
Is there a way to stop dust coming off a dry lakebed?
By Leia Larsen
The Salt Lake Tribune
ksl.com
https://www.ksl.com/article/50492729/is-there-a-way-to-stop-dust-coming-off-a-dry-lakebed
What it’s like living next to the largest source of dust pollution in the U.S.
How Owens Lake became a disaster and why it could — but need not — happen to the Great Salt Lake
Owens Lake shows just how bad things could get for Utah.
By Amy Joi O’Donoghue
Deseret News
Why The Salton Sea Has Turned From Tourist Hotspot To Toxic, Eggy Dustbowl
California’s Salton Sea is killing off local birds and fish. Oh, and it stinks of rotting eggs.
By Tom Hale
IFLScience
Is dust from the Great Salt Lake a threat to Utah’s military operations?
Questions loom as the Great Salt Lake continues to shrink
Is Utah behind the curve when it comes to dust mitigation from the drying Great Salt Lake?
More monitors around the lake’s edges would be “the prudent thing to do,” according to one expert.
By Amy Joi O’Donoghue
The Salt Lake Tribune
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2022/10/12/is-utah-behind-curve-when-it/
Editor’s note • This Great Salt Lake Collaborative story is part of day four of our series, “At water’s edge: Searching for solutions at the Great Salt Lake’s sister lakes across the Great Basin.” The in-depth project features the work of multiple journalists from multiple Utah news organizations. Read additional stories and view photos, videos and interactive maps at https://greatsaltlakenews.org.
NASA Dust Detective Delivers First Maps From Space for Climate Science
Measurements from EMIT, the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation, will improve computer simulations researchers use to understand climate change.
NASA Global Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet
It rained mud in Minnesota. Here’s why.
By FOX 9 Staff
Fox 9
https://www.fox9.com/weather/it-rained-mud-in-minnesota-heres-why
‘I’ve always loved dust’: Researcher working on project looking at dust across the U.S.
By
fox34.com
Valley fever, historically found only in the Southwest, is spreading. It can have devastating consequences.
Dangerous fungal illness rapidly spreading across country, doctors warn
Yahoo Life
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/dangerous-fungal-illness-rapidly-spreading-182156354.html
Utah’s Great Salt Lake is on the verge of collapse, and could expose millions to arsenic laced dust
Scientists say excessive water use is to blame, with 74% of diverted lakewater being used for unsustainable agricultural practices
https://www.livescience.com/utah-great-salt-lake-verge-of-collapse
Scientists fear a Great Toxic Dustbowl could soon emerge from the Great Salt Lake
By
, CNN Chief Climate CorrespondentCNN
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/10/us/utah-great-salt-lake-dust-pollution-weir-wxc
Finding Solutions To Treat Valley Fever
Science Friday
NASA is mapping duststorms from space with this new high-tech device
Story by Rebecca Cairns
CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/20/world/nasa-sandstorms-space-emit-hnk-spc-intl/index.html
White powder from New Mexico dust storm spotted in Maryland, West Virginia
NottinghamMd.com
Scientists studying impacts of microplastics found in snow
by 9news.com
Little Dusty – but Alive
Mirage News
Climate Models Aren’t Dusty Enough
How deadly are dust storms?
New research shows they cause more crashes than previously recorded
NOAA Research News
https://research.noaa.gov/article/ArtMID/587/ArticleID/2984/How-deadly-are-dust-storms
Environmentalists sound the alarm on Salton Sea as oasis is left in the dust
The waterbody has lost 38 square miles in the last 10 years.
The devil lurking in the dust
How extreme weather is driving a deadly fungus further into the American West
Vox
https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23673211/valley-fever-cocci-fungal-infections-colorado-river-dust
Highway reopens after more than 70 vehicles crashed in a dust storm, leaving at least 6 dead
By
CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/01/us/illinois-dust-storm-crashes/index.html
Dust storms have killed hundreds and are a growing problem in parts of the U.S.
Some say different farming methods could prevent dust storms like the one that caused I-55 pileup
By: Charlie De Mar
CBS
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/farming-methods-dust-storms-i-55-pileup/
Why more ‘shelterbelts’ could prevent dust storms in the future
Liability and Dust-Related Accidents
Can a Farmer Be Held Liable if Blowing Dust From Their Field Causes a Highway Accident?
By Katie Micik Dehlinger
Progressive Farmer
Digging Into the Culprit of the Rare and Unusual Illinois Dust Storm
By Tyne Morgan
AgWeb Farm Journal
‘A tipping point’: Arizona universities join forces to map the deadly Valley fever fungus
By: Stephanie Innes and Melina Walling
Restoring desert crusts may control dust pollution better than spraying water
By: Clara Migoya
More Frequent Dust Storms Could Be in Our Future
A combination of climate change and unsustainable agricultural practices could lead to Dust Bowl–like conditions
By Christian Elliott
Scientific American
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/more-frequent-dust-storms-could-be-in-our-future/
Great Salt Lake is still blowing dangerous dust
The Wasatch Front will continue to get pummeled until the lake reaches a sustainable level.
By Leia Larsen
The Salt Lake Tribune
https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2023/05/19/great-salt-lake-is-still-blowing/
Dust Storms Shouldn’t Happen in the Corn Belt
By Don Reicosky, David Brandt, Randall Reeder and Rattan Lal
Farm Journal
https://www.agweb.com/news/crops/crop-production/dust-storms-shouldnt-happen-corn-belt
Danger in the Dust! The Hazards of Windblown Dust
Airborne dust not only causes disease, it also menaces transportation on land, sea, and air; disrupts renewable energy systems; transports pathogens and toxic substances; and poses many other hazards.
EOS
https://eos.org/editors-vox/danger-in-the-dust-the-hazards-of-windblown-dust
Why more ‘shelterbelts’ could prevent dust storms in the future
Some say different farming methods could prevent dust storms like the one that caused I-55 pileup
By Charlie De Mar
CBS
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/farming-methods-dust-storms-i-55-pileup/
Dust storms have killed hundreds and are a growing problem in parts of the U.S.
National Weather Service Dust Storm Safety
State of Arizona Dust Storm Hazards
World Meteorological Organization Sand and Dust Storms Warning Advisory System (SDS-WAS)
https://public.wmo.int/en/our-mandate/focus-areas/environment/SDS
National Weather Service Dust Workshops
New Mexico Environment Department
New Mexico Department of Health- Air Quality
State of Washington, Department of Ecology- Dust Storms
Pull Aside Stay Alive- Dust Storm Transportation Safety
Take Five Stay Alive- New Mexico Dust Storm Transportation Safety
New Mexico Department of Health Dust and Health
U.S. Department of Transportation-Public Roads Autumn 2021
Confronting the Storm: Arizona’s Innovative Dust Detection and Warning System
Dust Storm News Twitter Page
Check out the interactive version of the COSTinDust pop-up book on the impacts of dust! Airports, solar panels, fields and cities made of paper, tell the story of how dust storms affect the environment and our lives.
EO Kids
Dust: A True World Traveler
Dust A True World Traveler NASA Earth Observatory for Kids
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
Sand and Dust Storms Compendium
Summary for Decision Makers
https://catalogue.unccd.int/1871_Summary_for_Decision_Makers.pdf
https://catalogue.unccd.int/1871_Key_Message_Flyer.DIGITAL.v18.pdf
dustalliance.na@gmail.com