Modeling and Remote Sensing for a Dust/Health Early Warning System

Abstract:

Airborne desert dust is a human health problem in much of the world. While controlling emissions from arid lands is problematic, advances in remote sensing and modeling have matured sufficiently to reduce risks of exposure. Active dust sources are identified and monitored from space-based platforms and from modeled back-trajectories. Satellite-based sensors detect and monitor airborne dust crossing oceans and circling the globe. High-resolution dust forecasts and simulations over the U.S. southwest have been successfully demonstrated. Operational dust forecast systems could warn of intercontinental dust movements and potential dust exposure hazards on spatial scales of a few kilometers and on time scales sufficient for planning and avoiding risks. This paper will show how the World Meteorological Organization’s Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System could coordinate international collaboration for a worldwide Dust/Health Early Warning System modeled after the decades-long success of the international Famine Early Warning System.