FAROUK EL-BAZ AWARD FOR DESERT RESEARCH: DESERT DUST - SOURCES AND TRENDS

Desert dust is an important factor in earth System Science and influences major biomes, the oceans, climate, soils, human health, etc. Two important issues are (a) to establish what the main source areas and pathways of dust are, and (b) to estimate how dust loadings have changed at a variety of time scales. The first issue can be addressed both by analysis of climatological data and by analysis of remotely sensed data. This has revealed that major dust sources are in the hyper-arid basinal areas of the Northern hemisphere, of which Bodele is the most important. Recent trends in dust storm activity show some areas with upward trends,, some with downward and some with more cyclical patterns. These can be related to changes in precipitation, wind conditions and land cover changes.