Dust Storms: Elemental Composition, Causes & Environmental Impacts

Dust storms are considered natural hazards, which affect ecosystems for a short interval of time ranging from a few hours to a few days. Due to the significant impact of dust outbreaks on climate, human health and ecosystems, numerous studies have been conducted throughout the world with differing instrumentation and techniques focusing on the investigation about such events. This book provides a short review on the recent knowledge about the dust aerosol optical and physico-chemical properties, the seasonal variability of dust outbreaks, the dust source regions, and the main results of similar studies. This book also presents two dust storm spring seasonal prediction models. The algorithm of the first one is similar to a weather forecast scheme, and the second one is a multivariable regression model. Furthermore, nearly every year, usually during March to May, the Korean Peninsula has experienced several Asian Dust storm events. Analytical results for three different sample sets related to Asian dust storm phenomena are discussed here. In addition, the meteorological condition is one of the determinative factors for the dust storm occurrence. The authors of this book examine the effectiveness and application of a meteorological descriptor quantifying the daily dust storm happening probability, which is referred to as the dust storm occurrence probability index (DSOPI). The dust-related climate in North China and its prediction by statistical modelling and an Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM) for climate are addressed as well since they may contribute to forecasting dust storms.