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Focus
Top image credit: NASA
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Dust in the Wind David A. Taylor Abstract
Evolution of a dust storm. Satellite images capture a massive dust storm traveling from northwest Africa (right) over the Canary Islands (center) and across the Atlantic toward North America.
image credit: NASA Airborne aerosols caused by humans used to be the main concern of scientists studying the effects of air pollution, but researchers see growing importance in naturally occurring dust storms, such as those from Africa. Every year, Sahelian dust storms alone launch a mass of dust estimated at 500 million to over 1 billion tons. Like the storms from Africa, large Asian dust storms appear to be growing more frequent, causing researchers to puzzle over the source of these phenomena and what their human and environmental health effects may be. Increasingly, the amount of dust generated globally is attracting scrutiny for its changing patterns, its possibly far-reaching effects on climate and ecosystems, and its potential impacts on people's health. Last Updated: January 23, 2002
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