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The scenario reads more like apocalyptic science fiction than reality. The Great Salt Lake recedes and an ecological disaster, fanned by the wind, hits the Wasatch Front. But it’s not fiction. A team of graduate students at Utah State University is measuring airborne dust from the exposed lake bed as the water retreats, and some of that dust is laden with toxins. “When strong winds…

The Martian‘s Mark Watney learned the hard way just how perilous a sandstorm can be. As did Ethan Hunt and his team in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. But, when you’re safely far away from them, they’re a lot less violent and a lot more beautiful. And you can see why sandstorms are gorgeous in this stunning time-lapse video. It features ten years of exciting, intense, breathtaking storms…

By South Dakota Soil Health Coalition In the past month, dust storms have been making headlines across the western United States, including South Dakota. Blowing soil has created driving hazards due to low visibility, and accumulated wind-blown silt even forced boat ramp closures near Fort Pierre. “The dust storms of the past few weeks, I've never seen them this bad,”…

By Christelle Marot It is a wall of orange sand several hundred metres high, driven by powerful gusts of wind, 50 knots on average, which can engulf and plunge a town into darkness in a few minutes. The people of Niger, Chad, Mali, Sudan, together with Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, and even Texas and Arizona are familiar with this spectacular phenomenon, which meteorologists call “haboob” (“strong…

Martha Pskowski | El Paso Times High winds carrying dust across the Borderland is a common occurrence in the Chihuahua Desert. But what some might pass off as a temporary inconvenience could have long-term health consequences, a recent study found. A journal article published in "atmosphere" found a correlation between dust events and increased hospital admissions in El Paso. The…

Sand and Dust Storms (SDSs) are a major problem in West Asia, where their main characteristics – intensity, extent, and frequency – are either not well known or have not yet been scientifically addressed. The growing concern of countries in the region about these phenomena has led to a number of high-level international meetings in recent years at which the creation of a system for…