China dust plumes tracked
Choking dust storms off the Gobi desert, once relatively rare events, are occurring with greater frequency now. Some of that dust is now circling the globe, and the folks at the University of Maryland Baltimore County believe they have detected it over their campus southwest of Baltimore. Atmospheric scientists at UMBC and elsewhere have been using satellite data and "lidar" (for "light detection and ranging") to measure altitude, composition and particle size over time.
The latest blast of dust and industrial smoke from China is now headed east over the North Pacific Ocean. An earlier plume was detected over Canada. And even though our skies have seemed beautifully clear in recent days, UMBC observers believe they are seeing the effects of the dust in the way sunlight is being scattered at sunset in Baltimore.
