Earth Surface Processes Team - Central Region

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The Inventory of North American Dust Sources

Photo of dust emission from Soda Lake in the Mojave Desert, February 6, 2001. Dust emission from Soda Lake in the Mojave Desert, February 6, 2001. The dust is composed mainly of evaporite minerals that chemically precipitated on the surface of the dry lake. Photo by Rob Fulton.
The Inventory of North American Dust Sources is a repository of knowledge and data about significant dust sources and events in North America. The inventory is designed to gather and make available essential information on sources and events in a variety of settings and conditions. In some cases, archival data (meteorological, satellite, etc.) are available for further investigation of the meteorological, vegetative, and physical surface conditions associated with a given event. For more information on the history and purpose of this project, see the statement of purpose.

The general information page describes general characteristics of dust events that may have happened in your area. You can also access other helpful sites that discuss dust events, how dust storms are generated, and other useful information.

The database of dust events and sources can be downloaded and viewed in Google Earth with a KML file, or you can query the database online. More information is available on the data page.

Information about the people who contributed to the creation of this database, and the citation for the database, can be found on the credits page.


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Page Last Modified: Thu 18-Sep-2008 9:25:17 MDT