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).
https://www.meteorologicaltechnologyinternational.com/news/digital-applications/wmo-and-aemet-launch-improved-website-for-sand-and-dust-forecasts.html
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.
https://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/mmg_disp.jsp?med_id=186217
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
https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/what-saharan-dust-and-how-does-it-change-atmosphere-and-air-we-breathe
Sand and Dust Storms Know No Borders
Earth Negotiations Bulletin
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.
https://vimeo.com/710538079
How South Dakota’s inability to track soil erosion is putting farmers at risk
Dominik Dausch
Sioux Falls Argus Leader
https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2022/06/03/south-dakota-inability-track-soil-erosion-derecho-puts-farmers-risk/9932449002/
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.
By Christopher Flavelle
NY Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/07/climate/salt-lake-city-climate-disaster.html?referringSource=articleShare
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
https://www.grid.news/story/climate/2022/07/22/how-the-tiny-dust-particles-everywhere-could-be-the-key-to-understanding-extreme-weather-and-saving-lives/
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
Researchers are divided over whether rising cases of the fungal infection in the United States can be linked to dust storms.
By Virginia Gewin
Nature
‘Dust Lake City’ disaster looming as Utah professor fights to save the Great Salt Lake
By Dan Spindle
DeseretNews
‘It took everything’: the disease that can be contracted by breathing California’s air
Life with dust: its impacts and how to catch it
By Gabriele Amato
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.
https://thehill.com/policy/equilibrium-sustainability/3633056-dried-up-in-utah-drying-great-salt-lake-leads-to-air-pollution/
Salt-dust storm near Morse led to 16-vehicle collision: Sask. RCMP
No fatalities from crash involving multiple vehicles last week, police say
By Dayne Patterson
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
Editor’s note •
This Great Salt Lake Collaborative story is part of day two 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.
What it’s like living next to the largest source of dust pollution in the U.S.
By Leia Larsen
The Salt Lake Tribune
Editor’s note •
This Great Salt Lake Collaborative story is part of day two 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.
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
and
Leia Larsen
The Salt Lake Tribune
Editor’s note • This Great Salt Lake Collaborative story is part of day two 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.
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
https://www.iflscience.com/why-the-salton-sea-has-turned-from-tourist-hotspot-to-toxic-eggy-dustbowl-65696
Is dust from the Great Salt Lake a threat to Utah’s military operations?
Questions loom as the Great Salt Lake continues to shrink
Amy Joi O’Donoghue
Deseret News
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
https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3223/nasa-dust-detective-delivers-first-maps-from-space-for-climate-science/
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 Michael A. Cantu
fox34.com
https://www.fox34.com/2023/01/13/ive-always-loved-dust-researcher-working-project-looking-dust-across-us/
Valley fever, historically found only in the Southwest, is spreading. It can have devastating consequences.
The fungus that causes Valley fever is found in hot, dry environments. As the climate warms, scientists project its range will expand.
By Tonya Bauer and Gadi Schwartz
NBC Health
Dangerous fungal illness rapidly spreading across country, doctors warn
Chris Oberholtz
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