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In April 2023, a major dust storm event in Lanzhou attracted widespread attention. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the causes, progression, and dust sources of this event using multiple data sources and methods. Backward trajectory analysis using the HYSPLIT model was employed to trace the origins of the dust, while FY-2H satellite data provided high-resolution dust distribution patterns. Additionally, the MAIAC AOD product was used to analyze Aerosol Optical Depth, and concentration-weighted trajectory (CWT) analysis was used to identify key dust source regions. The study found that PM 10 played a dominant role in the storm, and the AOD values during the storm in Lanzhou were significantly higher than the annual average, highlighting the severe impact on regional air quality. Key meteorological conditions influencing the storm's occurrence were analyzed, including the formation and eastward movement of a high-potential ridge, convection driven by diurnal temperature variations, and surface temperature increases coupled with decreased relative humidity, which together promoted the generation and development of dust. Backward trajectory and dust distribution analyses revealed that the dust primarily originated from Central Asia, western Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Gansu. From the 19th to the 21st, the dust distribution showed similarities between day and night, with a noticeable increase in dust concentration from night to day due to strong vertical atmospheric mixing. To mitigate the impacts of future dust storms, this study highlights both short-term and long-term strategies, including enhanced monitoring systems, public health advisories, and vegetation restoration in key source regions. Strengthening regional and international cooperation for transboundary dust management is also emphasized as critical for sustainable mitigation efforts. These findings are significant for understanding and predicting the causes, characteristics, and environmental impacts of dust storms in Lanzhou and the Northwestern region.

The desiccation of lakes on the Iranian Plateau, driven by both natural processes and anthropogenic activities, has led to significant land cover changes, exposing lake beds and triggering adverse environmental consequences. These transformations pose serious threats to ecological conditions and the provision of ecosystem services. This study investigates the potential links between lake desiccation and the occurrence of dust storms across major lakes on the Iranian Plateau. By utilizing remote sensing data and time series statistical analysis, including the Mann-Kendall test, Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression, and frequency analysis, we assessed changes in lake extent and their effects on Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and Particular Matter (PM2.5) from 1985 to 2020. An analysis of Landsat imagery reveals that lake desiccation commenced in the late 1990s, exhibiting a marked downward trend that has intensified in recent years. The results show a significant inverse correlation between aerosol parameters (AOD and PM2.5) and lake extent. Reduced lake area is associated with elevated AOD and PM2.5 concentrations, with the highest aerosol levels observed when lakes reach their smallest extent. Notably, despite an 81 % reduction in the lake area, dust storm occurrences have increased by 20%. These findings highlight the critical role of lake desiccation in exacerbating dust storms in the surrounding regions. Furthermore, the temporal alignment between fluctuations in lake extent and dust storm frequency is validated through regression analysis with a 95 % confidence level. The consistency between our results and existing literature underscores the reliability of the observed relationship, emphasizing the urgent need to address the environmental consequences of lake desiccation to mitigate its broader ecological impacts and potential human health impacts. Graphical Abstract., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Amirhossein Ahrari reports financial support was provided by Land and Water Technology Foundation. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Two extremely devastating super dust storms (SDS) hit Mongolia and Northern China in March 2021, causing many deaths and substantial economic damage. Accurate forecasting of dust storms is of great importance for avoiding or mitigating their effects. One of the most critical factors affecting dust emissions is soil moisture, but its value in desert exhibits significant uncertainty. In this study, model experiments were conducted to simulate dust emissions using four soil moisture datasets. The results were compared with observations to assess the effects of soil moisture on the dust emission strength. The Integrated Source Apportionment Method (ISAM) was used to track the dust sources and quantify the contribution from each source region to the dust load over the North China Plain (NCP), Korea peninsula, and western Japan. The results show large differences in the dust load depending on the soil moisture datasets used. The high soil moisture in the NCEP dataset results in substantial underestimation of the dust emission flux and PM 10 concentration. Despite a minor overestimation of PM 10 concentrations in many Northern China cities, the ERA5 dataset yields the best simulation performance. During the two SDS events, about 7.5 Mt dust was released from the deserts in Mongolia and 2.8 Mt from the deserts in China. Source apportionment indicates that the Mongolian Gobi Desert is the dominant source of PM 10 in the NCP, Korea peninsula, and western Japan, accounting for 60 %-80 %, while Inner Mongolia contributed 10 %-20 %., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

This study investigated the concentrations and compositions of specific elements in total suspended particulate (TSP) samples and the associated ecological, carcinogenic, and non-carcinogenic risks related to the inhalation, ingestion, and dermal absorption of heavy metals. The study focused on adult and pediatric populations in the highly dust-polluted city of Zabol, Iran, during 2022-2023. The samples were analyzed by using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The concentration of metals in milligram per kilogram (mg/kg) was as follows: Al (75053) > Ca (8206) > Fe (5439) > Mg (5323) > Zn (15.27) > Pb (3.66) > Cr (3.38) > Cd (0.011); according to the results, the highest amount of metals related to aluminum and calcium in dust particles. The calculated individual indices, including the ecological risk index (ERI), pollution factor (Cfi), and geographic accumulation index (I geo ), indicated that calcium exhibited minimal pollution, while the metal samples (Al, Mg, Fe, Cd, Cr, Pb, and Zn) were categorized as uncontaminated. The results revealed that the ecological risk factor (Er) is below 40, indicating a low level of contamination. Additionally, the pollution level determined by the ecological risk potential (RI) was less than 150, suggesting a low probability of contamination. Ingestion posed the highest average hazard quotient (HQ) values for both children and adults in terms of non-carcinogenic risk assessment, while cutaneous and inhalation exposures showed lower values. Furthermore, the hazard index (HI) for heavy metals remained below the safe threshold of 1. The risk index (RI) values for lead, cadmium, and chromium were all below 1 × 10 -6 in both adult and pediatric populations. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) guidelines suggest an acceptable level of carcinogenicity for all heavy metals, indicating a potential risk of cancer associated with the presence of these metals in suspended particles in Zabol., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

This study examined the heavy metal content in dust storm samples from Erbil, Iraq, along with four other locations. Using ICP-MS, Cd, Ni, Cr, Hg, Pb, Zn, Mn, Cu, Co, Fe and As were determined. The health risks due to exposure to these metals through ingestion, inhalation and dermal contact were assessed for both adults and children. Non-carcinogenic risks were evaluated using the hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI). Children faced a cumulative risk with HQ > 0.2 for As and Cr and HI > 1. The carcinogenic risk was measured using the carcinogenic risk factor (CRF), which fell below 10 -6 , indicating low cancer risk. However, children had a higher cancer risk (10 -4 to 10 -6 ) for As. The pollution indices revealed varying pollution levels from unpolluted to moderately polluted in the studied areas. Overall, this study highlights potential health risks associated with heavy metal exposure during dust storms, particularly for children, and emphasises the importance of addressing these concerns to safeguard public health.

Dust storms, which are common aversive occurrences in northern China, result from high winds, dry soil or dust, and soil surface disturbance. Exposure to dust storms, regardless of duration, can induce varying mental and physical distress levels. Recognizing the urgency of comprehending the impact of dust storms on residents and the scarcity of information on their effects on the indigenous civilians there, this study aims to address this gap by qualitatively sampling 29 participants from Beijing, a typical city in northern China. The current study seeks to gain insights into residents' dust storm experiences and explore their perspectives on effective coping mechanisms. The findings align with existing knowledge regarding the mental and physical repercussions of dust storms while identifying some emerging patterns of coping mechanisms already employed by residents in Beijing. Concerns regarding mental well-being, either directly influenced by the environmental conditions or indirectly stemming from disruptions to life routines on a broader scale, persistently dominate people's perceptions of dust storms. New themes emerged following the step-by-step exploration of feelings and coping mechanisms. This study aims to enlighten the public about the ramifications of the dust storms in Beijing and advocate for essential policy support.

A severe health crisis has been well-documented regarding dust particle exposure. We aimed to present the risk of all-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality due to particulate matter (PM) exposure during non-dust and dust storm events by performing a meta-analysis. A systematic review of the literature was conducted by an online search of the databases (Google Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed) with no restrictions according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines until December 2022. We performed a random-effects model to compute the pooled rate ratio (RR) of mortality with 95 % confidence intervals (CI). The Office of Health Assessment and Translation (OHAT) risk of bias rating tool was prepared to assess the quality of the individual study. The registration number in PROSPERO was CRD42023423212. We found a 16 % (95 % CI: 0.7 %, 24 %) increase in all-cause, 25 % (95 % CI: 14 %, 37 %) increase in cardiovascular, and 18 % (95 % CI: 13 %, 22 %) increase in respiratory mortality per 10 μg/m 3 increment in dust exposure. Furthermore, the RRs per 10 μg/m 3 increment in PM 10 - 2.5 were 1.046 (95 % CI: 1.019, 1.072)¸ 1.085 (95 % CI: 1.045, 1.0124), and 1.089 (95 % CI: 0.939, 1.24) for all-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality, respectively. PM 10 during dust days significantly increased the all-cause (1.013, 95 % CI: 1.007, 1.018) cardiovascular mortality risk (1.014, 95 % CI: 1.009, 1.02). We also found significant evidence for all-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality among females and the elderly age group due to dust particle (PM 10 - during dust storm events related to mortality risk.2.5 and PM 10 ) exposure. Our results provided significant evidence about high concentrations of PM 10 - 2.5 and PM 10 during dust storm events related to mortality risk., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Dust is an important and complex constituent of the atmospheric system, having significant impacts on the environment, climate, air quality, and human health. Although dust events are common across many regions of the United States, their impacts are not often prioritized in air quality mitigation strategies. We argue that there are at least three factors that result in underestimation of the social and environmental impact of dust events, making them receive less attention. These include (a) sparse monitoring stations with irregular spatial distribution in dust-influenced regions, (b) inconsistency with dust sampling methods, and (c) sampling frequency and schedules, which can lead to missed dust events or underestimation of dust particle concentrations. Without addressing these three factors, it is challenging to characterize and understand the full air quality impacts of dust events in the United States. This paper highlights the need for additional monitoring to measure these events so that we can more fully evaluate and understand their impacts, as they are predicted to increase with climate change., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest relevant to this study., (© 2023 The Authors. GeoHealth published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Geophysical Union.)

Dust storms are one of the largest sources of non-exhaust emissions in China, which can adversely affect air quality and human health during long-distance transportation. To study the influence of dust storms on aerosol particle composition, samples of fine aerosol (PM 2.5 ) were collected before, during, and after the severe dust storm episodes in a coastal city of North China. Then the water-soluble inorganic ions in the filters were analyzed. The results showed that the chemical composition varied significantly in different sampling periods. Before the dust storm periods (Phase 1), the weather was characterized by high relative humidity. NO 3 - , which is very different from the situation a few years ago when sulfate was the dominant. The results indicated that the chemical composition of the atmosphere in China has changed significantly after the implementation of strict air pollution control measures. During the severe dust storm periods (within a few hours after the dust invasion, Phase 2), the proportion of Ca 2.5 , which is very different from the situation a few years ago when sulfate was the dominant. The results indicated that the chemical composition of the atmosphere in China has changed significantly after the implementation of strict air pollution control measures. During the severe dust storm periods (within a few hours after the dust invasion, Phase 2), the proportion of Ca 2+ was high; the sulfate formation was limited due to adiabatic air mass affected by the cold front, and the sulfate content might be mainly from desert soil. However, a small amount of nitrate can be formed during their long-distance transportation. After the dust storm periods (Phase 3), dust plums and local polluted air mass mixed well. The proportion of secondary inorganic ions increased, and nitrate formation was still the main. The changes in the chemical composition from a few years ago during Phase 1 and the sharp changes in different water-soluble inorganic ions during different Phases should be carefully considered to evaluate their implications for air quality and human health.2.5 was high; the sulfate formation was limited due to adiabatic air mass affected by the cold front, and the sulfate content might be mainly from desert soil. However, a small amount of nitrate can be formed during their long-distance transportation. After the dust storm periods (Phase 3), dust plums and local polluted air mass mixed well. The proportion of secondary inorganic ions increased, and nitrate formation was still the main. The changes in the chemical composition from a few years ago during Phase 1 and the sharp changes in different water-soluble inorganic ions during different Phases should be carefully considered to evaluate their implications for air quality and human health., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Recent studies have suggested that spring dust storm (SDS) events in northern China (NC) have exhibited substantial decline over the past 30 years. However, it is unclear which local factors are most responsible for the decline in SDS events, and the contribution of each dominant factor remains to be determined. This study utilized high-density DS records and collocated homogenized surface meteorological observations from 1982 to 2017, in conjunction with land surface products, to examine the local drivers that influence the long-term variation in SDS frequency (SDSF) over the entire NC area and its three dust-source areas: northwestern China (NWC), north-central China (NCC), and northeastern China (NEC). Results indicated that the observed SDSF averaged over NC, NWC, NCC, and NEC has decreased by 144.4 %, 109.3 %, 166.4 %, and 92.2 %, respectively, during 1982-2017. The variation in SDSF is largely explained by variation in wind speed (WS), precipitation, volumetric soil moisture, and surface bareness. A multivariable linear regression model incorporating these local drivers accounted for 81.0 %, 74.0 %, and 46.9 % of the variance in SDSF in NWC, NCC, and NEC, respectively. Statistical analyses on the local drivers suggested that weakening of WS was the dominant factor in the reduction in SDSF over recent decades, contributing 76.9 %, 54.7 %, and 33.6 % of the variation in NWC, NCC, and NEC, respectively. More importantly, we revealed that the interannual variation in regional SDSF was not only controlled by local drivers, but also influenced by cross-regional transport of dust aerosols emitted from upstream source areas., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Aerosol-CCN characteristics and dynamics during a pre-monsoon dust storm (April 6-11, 2015) over a high-altitude site ((17.92°N, 73.66°E, and 1348 m above mean sea level (MSL)) in Western Ghats, India, has been studied using ground-based observations, satellite, and reanalysis datasets. Spatial distribution of dust surface mass concentration along with the back trajectory analysis showed the Arabian Desert area (Rub-Al-khali desert) as the source region and strong westerly winds transported the dust particles toward the Indian subcontinent. High values noticed in the surface PM 10 (PM 2.5 ), i.e., ~ 450 (~ 130) µg m -3 , MODIS AOD 550nm (0.6), and MERRA 2 dust surface mass concentration (5 × 10 -7  kg m -3 ) along MODIS true color images confirmed the dust storm event on April 6, 2015 over the observational site. Size-segregated aerosol number concentration measured from ground-based observations showed the dominance of Aitken, accumulation, and coarse mode particles during dust period. CCN concentrations at 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9% SS were analyzed. A low value of CCN concentration and activation fraction (~ 0.3) near surface was noticed during dust storm day, suggesting insoluble mineral dust particle being transported. Analyzed vertical velocity during pre-dust period showed downdraft between 900 and 750 hPa, suggesting dust transport from upper altitudes toward the observational site. WRF-Chem model simulation also captured the dust storm event, and the results are in good agreement with the observation with a significance of 95% confidence level., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Dust storms are increasing in frequency and correlate with adverse health outcomes but remain understudied in the United States (U.S.), partially due to the limited spatio-temporal coverage, resolution, and accuracy of current data sets. In this work, dust-related metrics from four public areal data products were compared to a monitor-based "gold standard" dust data set. The data products included the National Weather Service (NWS) storm event database, the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications-Version 2, the EPA's Air QUAlity TimE Series (EQUATES) Project using the Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling System (CMAQ), and the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service global reanalysis product. California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, which account for most dust storms reported in the U.S., were examined. Dichotomous and continuous metrics based on reported dust storms, particulate matter concentrations (PM 10 and PM 2.5 ), and aerosol-type variables were extracted or derived from the data products. Associations between these metrics and a validated dust storm detection method utilizing Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments monitors were estimated via quasi-binomial regression. In general, metrics from CAMS yielded the strongest associations with the "gold standard," followed by the NWS storm database metric. Dust aerosol (0.9-20 μm) mixing ratio, vertically integrated mass of dust aerosol (9-20 μm), and dust aerosol optical depth at 550 nm from CAMS generated the highest standardized odds ratios among all metrics. Future work will apply machine-learning methods to the best-performing metrics to create a public dust storm database suitable for long-term epidemiologic studies., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest relevant to this study., (© 2023 The Authors. GeoHealth published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Geophysical Union.)

Numerical weather prediction models are very important tools in predicting severe weather phenomena such as dust storms. However, the prediction accuracy in these models depends on the options considered in the modeling. In this study, a multi-objective framework is presented to determine the optimal options of the weather research forecasting with chemistry (WRF-Chem) model. For this purpose, a severe dust storm that occurred in the center of Iran is considered and the effect of 10 options including grid (computational domain size, modeling start time, horizontal, vertical and temporal resolution), physical (initial conditions, boundary layer and land surface schemes) and chemical options (dust emission schemes and dust source functions) are investigated. In general, the results showed that the WRF-Chem model has a high ability to model dust storms, but its results depend on the options considered in the modeling. Evaluation of grid options showed that inappropriate selection of domain size and modeling start time can lead to the failure in dust storm forecasting. Also, the land surface scheme has the greatest impact on dust concentration among the physical options. In addition, chemical options have the greatest impact on the dust storm forecasting as well. Based on the proposed multi-objective framework, the optimal options for dust storm modeling were determined. The proposed approach is comprehensive and can be used for other atmospheric/air quality modeling., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Black carbon (BC) can be transported over long distances and is an important trigger of climate warming and glacier melting at remote high mountains and polar regions. It is normally assumed that the variation of BC flux in remote regions is dominated by its emissions. However, after a comprehensive investigation of potential influencing factors on temporal variations of BC from ice cores of the Himalayas, this short communication shows that in addition to BC emissions, contributions from dust storms and precipitation are also important (up to 56% together) in regulating the variation of BC deposition flux and concentrations derived from remote Himalayan ice core measurements. Therefore, besides BC emissions, the influence of precipitation and BC transported by dust storms should also be considered to better quantify the lifetime and behavior of BC during its long-range transport from source to sink regions as well as to quantify the climatic effects of BC over remote Himalayan glaciers., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A dust storm is a major environmental problem affecting many arid regions worldwide. The novel contribution of this study is combining indicators extracted from RS- and statistic-based predictive models to spatial mapping of land susceptibility to dust emissions in a very important dust source area in the borders of Iran and Iraq (Khuzestan province in Iran and Al-Basrah and Maysan provinces in Iraq). In this research, remote sensing (RS) techniques and machine learning techniques, including multivariate adaptive regression spline (MARS), random forest (RF), and logistic regression (LR), were used for dust source identification and susceptibility map preparation. To this end, 152 DSA for the period of 2005-2020 were identified in the study area. Of these DSA data, 70% was assigned to the Dust Source Susceptibility Mapping (DSSM) (training dataset) and 30% to model validation. Consequently, six factors (i.e., soil, lithology, slope, normalized vegetation differential index (NDVI), geomorphology, and land use units) were prepared as DSA's independent and effective variables. The results of all three models indicated that land use had the most impact on DSA. The validation results of these models using the test data showed sub-curves of 0.92, 0.86, and 0.76 for the RF, MARS, and LR models, respectively. Also, results showed that the RF model outperformed MARS (AUC = 0.89) and LR (AUC = 0.78) methods. In all three models, high and very high susceptibility classes generally covered a large percentage of the case study. The highest percentage of dust source points was also in this susceptibility category. Overall, the results of this study can be useful for planners and managers to control and reduce the risk of negative dust consequences., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Windblown dust impacts human health, air quality, and climate. The National Weather Service Storm Events Database (SED) is a widely used dataset of significant or unusual weather, including dust storms (DS), and resulting deaths, injuries, and material losses in the USA. The SED is frequently used by medical, social, and atmospheric scientists. However, it is uncertain whether this dataset reliably represents spatial and temporal variations and trends of DS. Analyzing the SED from 2000 to 2020 identified 1,167 DS reports; removing reports of the same event from multiple locations left 647 DS in 21 USA states. The number of DS ranged from 12 in 2008 to 53 in 2018, with no strong interannual trends detected ( R 2 was 0.3). By examining the DS events reported in the SED based on meteorological observations including wind speed, visibility, and weather codes, we determined that the SED was not only missing many DS (visibility <1 km), but also included many blowing dust (BLDU) events. 49.9% of 491 reported DS events in SED had visibility >1 km and were incorrectly reported as DS. Underrepresentation of DS and inclusion of BLDU may be partially due to the diverse sources contributing to the SED and a lack of verification of the reports and their consistency. Although the SED is an extremely useful and valuable database of impactful weather, including DS, the issues found in this study warrant caution in use of this dataset for many geohealth applications., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest relevant to this study., (© 2022 The Authors. GeoHealth published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Geophysical Union.)

The biological agents are carried from deserts and dried lands to long distances by high dust volumes. Their adverse effects can be reduced by specifying and controlling dust sources and their related biological agents. Thus, the current work examined the relationship between the bacteria in air and soil samples by taking samples from the soil surface of two dust sources, as well as from air samples during spring from Khorramshahr and Abadan cities. The dust event is the most influential factor on airborne bacteria. There is an insignificant negative (-0.06), insignificant positive (0.14), and weak positive (0.24) correlation between airborne bacteria and UV radiation, relative humidity, and temperature, respectively. After preparing a 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) clone library from the soil and air samples, operational taxonomic unit picking and taxonomic assignment were conducted using QIIME Virtual Box. In the present work, Bacillus was the dominant species. The relationship between dust sources and air samples was determined by principal component analysis. Bacteria in the Hoor-Al-Azim dust source and airborne bacteria on dusty and non-dusty days showed a more significant correlation compared to bacteria in the Shadegan dust source. Source Tracker software was used to estimate the contribution of dust sources. The primary source of dust was associated with the dried areas of Hoor-Al-Azim on the non-dusty and dusty days. Finally, the long transport of airborne bacteria was assessed by moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the back trajectory model of Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) data. The research findings can help decision-makers prioritize dust sources to control the adverse effects of dust., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Dust storms expose people suspended particles, microorganisms and potential allergens that have been absorbed by dust particles during airborne transport. The purpose of this study was investigation effect of microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) in dust storm on human health. Databases used to for searched were the PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Springer and Science Direct (Scopus). 58 papers based on abstract and article text filtered. In the end after sieve we selected 10 papers. Identify all relevant studies published 1978-2022. The literature showed that green spaces created by city officials in different areas include a set of trees and shrubs in accordance with the effect of microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) in dust storm on human health. Based on the result the many studies are conducted every year on the characteristics and different sources of dust, one of the most important of which is the ability of these storms to carry pathogenic microorganisms. the purpose of this study is the effect of bacteria and fungi in dust storms on human health. The findings of this study showed that the evaluation of various studies showed that with the occurrence of dust storms that originate from different sources, in addition to transporting suspended solids, pathogenic bacteria and fungi are also transmitted by dust storms from near and far places and cause various diseases of these include respiratory and pulmonary problems, upper respiratory tract infections, and cardiovascular disease., (© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.)

Exposure to airborne particulate matter (PM) can be considered as an important risk factor for human health. Some cytokines have been recognized as the biomarkers of exposure to air pollution. Experimental studies indicate that PM exposure could be associated with inflammation. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the exposure to air PM is associated with biomarkers of inflammation. The specific aim of this study was to determine the correlation between airborne PM levels and IL-6 and TNF-α as airway inflammation biomarkers among two groups of late adolescents in northwest of Iran. This study included 46 subjects, comprising 23 asthmatic subjects and 23 non-asthmatic persons. Environmental PM (PM 10 , PM 2.5 and PM 1 ) levels were measured in dust storm and non-dust storm days during both cold and warm seasons. Following the sampling of PM, Two pro-inflammatory cytokines of IL-6 and TNF-α in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) were also determined in the EBC samples via commercial ELISA kits. Daily mean ambient air PM 10 , PM 2.5 and PM 1 concentrations during the dust storm days was 221.79, 93.13 and 25.52 μg m -3 and in non-dusty days 48.37, 18.54 and 6.1 μg m -3 , respectively. Biomarkers levels were significantly (p < 0.001) higher in asthmatic students compared to the non-asthmatic subjects. EBC cytokines levels were increased in dust storm days compared to the non-dusty days (p < 0.001) and were positively correlated with different size of ambient PM concentration. Dust storm conditions can increase the pro-inflammatory cytokines and cause adverse effects on pulmonary health and lung tissue damage., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors (Mohammad Ghanbari Ghozikali, Khalil Ansarin, Kazem Naddafi, Ramin Nabizadeh, Kamyar Yaghmaeian, Jalil Jaafari, Reza Dehghanzadeh, Zahra Atafar, Maryam Faraji, Aliakbar Mohammadi, Gholamreza Goudarzi, and Masud Yunesian) declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The main purpose of this study was to examine the association between dust storms (DSs) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) using a 5 year representative national dataset with one million participants, according to information on DS, meteorology, and air pollution in Taiwan. There were 18,855 AMD outpatient cases and 1080 AMD inpatient cases during 2008-2012. A Poisson time-series model was used for the analysis. The results show that AMD cases are significantly associated with exposure to dust storm events. Average daily numbers of wet and dry AMD outpatient cases increased from 6.03 and 4.26 on no-event days to 8.25 and 6.67, 2 days after DSs. Average daily numbers of wet and dry AMD inpatient cases increased from 0.26 and 0.33 on no-event days to 0.58 and 0.75, 1 day after DSs. Both genders and different age groups are all affected by the occurrence of DSs, especially 1 and 2 days after DS events. Women are at a higher risk of outpatient visits and hospitalizations for relatively severe wet AMD. Although AMD highly correlated with age, this study also found that dry AMD outpatient visits in people under the age of 50 were also found to be significantly associated with DS events. In order to protect the health of eyes and avoid AMD, one should reduce or avoid outdoor activities when DS events occur.

Recurrent dust storms represent a significant concern in Australia because of their related hazards and damages since particulate matter (PM) has harmful impacts on the environmental, health and economic sectors. The particulate matter may be released from natural sources and human activities. The major part of natural particulate matter is emitted into the air by wind erosion processes from desert and semi-desert areas at the world scale. A huge dust storm crossed over several areas of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, including the Sydney region on 21-22 November 2018 and decreased the horizontal visibility to less than 1 km for 22 h. This study examined the synoptic weather conditions, and assessed the air quality and identified the source and transport trajectory of the dust storm over Sydney using ground and satellite remote sensing data. PM10 (< 10 μm) concentrations were obtained from selected air quality monitoring sites operated by the Environmental Protection Agency in NSW. The highest hourly concentration of PM10 (578.7 μg/m 3 ) was recorded at Singleton in the Hunter Valley, while concentrations in Sydney ranged from 480 to 385 μg/m 3 , well above the standard air quality level in Australia (50 μg/m 3 per 24 h). The HYSPLIT back trajectories of air parcels suggest that the potential sources of the dust episode originated from the Lake Eyre Basin and northeast South Australia, the Mundi Mundi plains west of Broken Hill, Cobar and the grazing lands and the red sandplains in northwestern NSW. It then travelled towards the east coast. These long-range airflows transported suspended dust particles, raising air quality to hazardous levels (elevated PM10 levels) over most areas of NSW. The results from the HYSPLIT model for dust movement are confirmed by MODIS satellite images. Many areas of NSW experienced this intense dust storm due to northwest wind generated by the low-pressure systems and cold fronts over South Australia and many parts of western NSW as it moved eastward., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

In this study, the potential hazards of heavy metals in dust storms were investigated by collecting dust storm samples, measuring their heavy metal concentrations, and using index evaluation, spatial analysis, positive matrix factorization (PMF) model and risk assessment model. Heavy metals in dust storms were contaminated by anthropogenic sources leading to their concentrations being higher than the background values. The enrichment factors and geoaccumulation indices showed that the heavy metals came from both natural and anthropogenic sources, Cu, Ni, Zn and Pb are strongly influenced by anthropogenic sources. Heavy metals in dust storms were divided into four sources: Cu and Ni were attributed to industrial sources mainly from local mining and metal processing; Cr was mainly contributed by industrial sources related to industrial production such as coal combustion; Pb and Zn were mainly contributed by transportation sources; and Ti, V, Mn, Fe, and As were from natural and agricultural sources. The level of comprehensive ecological risk of heavy metals in dust storms were low, but there were moderate and above risks at individual sites. Both adults and children had the highest carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks from the ingestion route, and the risk for children was higher than that for adults., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In order to investigate the chemical composition and source apportionment of aerosols during winter in the Beijing-Tianjin-Heibei region, the particular matter (PM) and aerosol chemical composition at Mt. Haituo were observed by using a GRIMM 180, a single-particle soot photometer (SP2), and a high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-TOF-AMS) from December 28, 2020 to February 3, 2021. Combining these observations with meteorological data and the HYSPLIT model, we calculated the potential source contribution factor (PSCF) and concentration weighted trajectory (CWT) and analyzed the temporal evolution and potential sources apportionment of PM and aerosol chemical composition under different pollution processes. The results showed that the dust storm process mainly affected PM 10 and PM 2.5 in Mt. Haituo during the winter and had a small impact on PM 1 ; by contrast, haze pollution mainly affected PM 1 . Chemical components of aerosol accounted for 85.0% and 73.4% of PM 1 on clean and haze days, respectively, but only 47.4% of PM 1 in dust storm processes. NO 3 - ; black carbon (BC) had the largest mass concentration on clean and dust storm days, accounting for 24.1% and 12.8% of PM 1 , respectively. The median diameters of BC were 209.7, 207.5, and 204.7 nm on clean, dust storm, and haze days, respectively. 1 , respectively. The median diameters of BC were 209.7, 207.5, and 204.7 nm on clean, dust storm, and haze days, respectively. D was 2.15 in haze pollution, which was 1.38 and 1.39 times that on dust storm and clean days, respectively. Diurnal variations in PM and aerosol chemical components were different during the different processes. PM p / D had high mass concentrations at night and low mass concentrations during the daytime on clean and dust storm days and had a unimodal distribution with a peak at 14:00 in haze. Diurnal variations in chemical composition had a unimodal distribution on clean days and a bimodal distribution on dust storm and haze days. The chemical compositions of the BC coating layer were different under different processes. The coating layers of BC were mainly NH c was 2.15 in haze pollution, which was 1.38 and 1.39 times that on dust storm and clean days, respectively. Diurnal variations in PM and aerosol chemical components were different during the different processes. PM 10 and PM 2.5 had high mass concentrations at night and low mass concentrations during the daytime on clean and dust storm days and had a unimodal distribution with a peak at 14:00 in haze. Diurnal variations in chemical composition had a unimodal distribution on clean days and a bimodal distribution on dust storm and haze days. The chemical compositions of the BC coating layer were different under different processes. The coating layers of BC were mainly NH 4 NO 3 , and organic matter on the clean, dust storm, and haze days, respectively. The distribution of potential sources of PM 4 ) 2 SO 4 , and organic matter on the clean, dust storm, and haze days, respectively. The distribution of potential sources of PM 1 and its chemical components were different under different processes. The high-value area of the potential sources was mainly concentrated in the Beijing-Baoding-Shijiazhuang-Yangquan area in the southwestern portion of the site during dust storms and was mainly concentrated in Yanqing, Huailai, and Changping in the areas around the site during haze.

A dust storm that formed in the north of China and the southeastern part of Mongolia in March 2021 significantly deteriorated air quality over a large area of East Asia. According to the synoptic pattern, the cause of the dust storm was a cyclone with a significant drop in pressure leading to high winds and dry components of the soil over parts of the Gobi Desert becoming airborne. Data obtained from ground-based air quality monitoring stations show that the observed hourly PM 10 concentration greatly exceeded the recommended maximum of 150 μg/m 3 with readings above 1500 μg/m 3 in the cities of Tianjin, Baoding, Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Zhoukou. In Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, Jinnan, Xining, Baotou, and Jining. In Handan, it was over 2000 μg/m 3 . Cities where PM 10 concentration exceeded 3900 μg/m 3 included Lanzhou, Hohhot, Changzhou, Alashan, Yan'an, Yulin, Hami, Jiuquan, Heze, Hotan, and Baiyin. Concentrations exceeded 7000 μg/m 3 on March 15th over parts of the provinces of Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Ningxia, in the cities of Ordos, Jinchang, Wuwei and Zhongwei. According to satellite data, the area of dust covered approximately 450,000 km 2 . MODIS and TROPOMI data demonstrated high aerosol optical depth (AOD) (more than 1) with a high ultraviolet aerosol index (UVAI) (more than 2), confirming the predominance of dust particles during the storm. Data from CALIPSO show the presence of a dense layer of dust extending from the earth's surface to a height of about 8 km. The Dust Regional Atmospheric Model (BSC-DREAM8b) demonstrates high synchrony with the satellite's surface dust concentration data, ranging from 640 to 1280 μg/m 3 , and exceeding 2650 μg/m 3 in some areas. The purpose of this study is to analyze data from ground-based sensors, satellites, and atmospheric models to better understand the March 2021 dust storm event. The results may be useful for the implementation of protective and preventive measures for both the environment and human health, including air quality control., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Dust storms are frequent phenomena in Khuzestan Province, southwest Iran, leading to environmental hazards and deleterious impacts on human health. This work analyzes mineralogic and geochemical characteristics of dust sediments at the source regions and in deposition areas in southwest Iran during three dust-storm events in winter and spring 2018. Twenty soil and airborne dust samples were collected and analyzed for compositions of dust at different distances from the source regions in Iraq and southwest Iran, aiming to assess the source characterization and possible mixing processes in the atmosphere. The grain size distributions were also analyzed at specific sites. The results show that about 50 % of the volume size distribution corresponds to particle sizes of above 20 μm, indicating local/regional dust storms of coarse to giant particles. XRD analysis indicates that calcite is the dominant mineral in all the samples, with a high quartz and dolomite fraction. The most abundant major compounds are SiO 2 and CaO, while Cl, Ba, Sr, Pb, Ni, Zn, Cr, V are the main trace elements. The enrichment factor (EF) analysis showed that apart from Th, Nb, Ce, and V, all the other elements (Pb, Zn, Cr, etc.) have an anthropogenic origin or represent high amounts of pollutant contamination. High levels of elemental enrichment are attributable to intensive pollution in Khuzestan Province and at sampling sites due to fossil-fuel combustion, gas and petroleum drilling activities. Moreover, based on the geo-accumulation index (Igeo), all samples are found to be contaminated by heavy metals due to prior war-related materiel, oil and gas extraction, and emissions from polluting industries., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Despite the fact that Iran has been exposed to severe dust storms during the past 2 decades, few studies have investigated the health effects of these events in Iran. This study was conducted to assess the association between dust storms and daily non-accidental, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality in Dezful City (Khuzestan Province, Iran) during 2014 to 2019., Methods: In this study, mortality, meteorological, and climatological data were obtained from the Dezful University of Medical Sciences, Iranian Meteorological Organization, and Department of Environment in Khuzestan Province, respectively. Days of dust storm were identified based on the daily concentration threshold of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 10 μm (PM 10 ) according to Hoffmanns҆ definition, and then an ecological time-series was used to estimate the short-term effects of dust storms on daily mortality. Statistical analysis was performed using a distributed lag linear model (DLM) and a distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) packages by R software and the study results were reported as excess mortality., Results: During the study period, 15 223 deaths were recorded, and 139 dust storms occurred in Dezful city. In addition, there was statistically significant excess risk of mortality due to dust storms in Dezful City (mortality in the group under 15 years of age, lag 4 : 34.17% and 15-64 years of age groups, lag 5 : 32.19%, lag 6 : 3.28%), also dust storms had statistically significant effects on respiratory mortality (lag 6 : 5.49%)., Conclusion: The findings of the current study indicate that dust storms increase the risk of mortality with some lags. An evidence-based early warning system may be able to aware the people of the health effects of dust storms., Competing Interests: Declaration Of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2021.)

Background and Purpose: Sand and Dust storms (SDS) are meteorological hazards that are increasing due to climate change. Mitigation and adaptation are two main strategies that help to deal with this global concern. In the recent decades, Iran has been prone to SDS. Therefore, this study was conducted in 2018 in order to explore the SDS adaptation experiences and strategies in the Iranian community., Methods: Using content analysis approach and purposive sampling, three groups (including 14 experts, 8 authorities, and 23 individuals) were selected. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was performed using Graneheim and Lundman's method. Finally, Gaba and Lincoln's scientific criteria were used for data validity., Results: Two major categories emerged from the analysis. The first category was related to the adaptation experiences and included two subcategories: "citizens' experiences" and "experts'/ authorities' experiences". The second was related to SDS adaptation strategies and included five subcategories: "educational development", "public participation", "inter-sectorial coordination", "institutional development", and "environment preservation"., Conclusions: Identifying the experiences and strategies that are implemented by a community to adapt to SDS is the core stone for developing a comprehensive local and national adaptation plan. This study suggests strategies and action plans for SDS adaptation that can be used in policy making., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021.)

Dust storms over the Sistan region in East Iran are associated with predominant northwest winds (called 120-day winds) which promote desertification, including drying of the Hamoun wetlands. These storms are more frequent in spring and summer seasons in the Sistan region. The study aims to examine the relationship between vegetation cover and wind speed with dust storms intensity in order to understand the behavior of dust sources using satellite remote sensing data (AOD) between 2000 and 2019. Based on the time series, the study period can be divided into three parts based on the following characteristics: high dust intensity (2004), moderate relative intensity of value in all parameters studied (2005 to 2014), and dust reduction (2015-2019). Time series analysis shows a negative relationship between AOD and wind speed owing presumably to vegetative cover changes during years that wind speed has increased. Based on multiple regression analysis by monthly time scales that conforms time series result, monthly NDVI is significantly related to AOD. Analysis of the 3 hourly wind data suggests a positive relationship between wind and dust, and effective thresholds for dust erosion based on wind speeds are proposed for the Sistan region., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Estimating the influence of dust aerosol on clouds, especially deep convective clouds which is closely related to heavy precipitation, still has large uncertainties due to the lack of adequate direct measurements. In this study, a typical dust storm along with thunderstorm (referred to dust-rain storm), occurred in Northwest India on May 2, 2018, was selected to explore the possible effects of dust aerosol on deep convective cloud by combining a series of satellite retrievals and reanalysis data. Results showed that dust aerosol and moisture were carried to Northwest India by southwesterly wind at 700 hPa and easterly wind along south foothill of Himalayas at 850 hPa, respectively, and then were lifted to upper level of the cloud by robust updraft induced by the deep convection and secondary circulation driven by the upper-level westerly jet. The injection of dust is likely to transfer supercooled water cloud into ice cloud as effective ice nuclei, hence increasing the cloud ice water path and cloud optical depth but decreasing ice particle radius in the cloud. The latent heat released by this phase-change process would enhance the deep convection and further cause heavy rainfall in northern India by drawing moisture from surrounding region. Although we cannot eliminate the effect of large-scale dynamics, this study highlighted the role of dust aerosol in invigorating the deep convective clouds as ice nuclei, providing observation evidence for the investigation of aerosol-cloud-precipitation interaction., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Dust storms and their impacts on health are becoming a major public health issue. The current study examines the health impacts of dust storms around the world to provide an overview of this issue., Method: In this systematic review, 140 relevant and authoritative English articles on the impacts of dust storms on health (up to September 2019) were identified and extracted from 28 968 articles using valid keywords from various databases (PubMed, WOS, EMBASE, and Scopus) and multiple screening steps. Selected papers were then qualitatively examined and evaluated. Evaluation results were summarized using an Extraction Table., Results: The results of the study are divided into two parts: short and long-term impacts of dust storms. Short-term impacts include mortality, visitation, emergency medical dispatch, hospitalization, increased symptoms, and decreased pulmonary function. Long-term impacts include pregnancy, cognitive difficulties, and birth problems. Additionally, this study shows that dust storms have devastating impacts on health, affecting cardiovascular and respiratory health in particular., Conclusion: The findings of this study show that dust storms have significant public health impacts. More attention should be paid to these natural hazards to prepare for, respond to, and mitigate these hazardous events to reduce their negative health impacts.Registration: PROSPERO registration number CRD42018093325., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interests:The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2021.)

This study examined the association between particulate matter from anthropogenic and natural sources and inflammatory biomarkers, including hs-CRP, IL-6, sTNF-RII, and WBCs, in two groups of healthy young subjects. We followed up subjects of two panels (16 to 22 years old), including 22 subjects selected from the urban area (Tehran city) with high-level pollution background and 22 subjects selected from the rural area (Ahmadabad) with low-level pollution background. In each group, we collected 4 times blood samples in various air pollution conditions, In the subjects of the urban group, there was a substantial difference (p < 0.05) between inversion days and cold season control days, and between dust storm days and warm season control days for concentrations of hs-CRP, IL-6, and WBCs biomarkers. In the subjects of the rural group, a significant difference could be detected in the concentration of hs-CRP, IL-6, and WBCs biomarkers (p < 0.05) between inversion days and cold season control days, and between dust storm and warm control days. We found that the difference in concentrations of hs-CRP, IL-6, and WBCs biomarkers between dust storm days and warm control conditions in the rural group were higher than the difference in inversion and cold control conditions, which can be attributed to low background air pollution in the rural area. In the urban area, the health effect of anthropogenic sources of PM is higher than the dust storm condition, which can be attributed to the stronger effect of anthropogenic pollution effect., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Dust storms cause a wide range of impacts on environment, economy and human health in the Sistan region of southeastern Iran. This paper investigates long-term variability of dust activity over 23 years (1997-2019) using the Dust Storm Index (DSI) and the frequency of dust-storm days (DSD, visibility <1000 m) and assesses the associated importance of various terrestrial and climatic drivers. A dust storm corridor was identified, based on the prevailing wind direction at Zabol, including parts of the Hamoun lakes and surrounding desert in order to study the effects of vegetation cover and lake water levels on dust activity. The results show maximum intensity of dust storms occurred at 10:30 a.m. and in the summer, consistent with the highest wind speeds - associated with the regionally important Levar wind - and highest air temperatures and lowest precipitation and relative humidity. Strong positive correlations were demonstrated between DSI and wind speed, particularly in summer. The 2000-2004 period saw severe dust-raising activity with a DSI of 530.6. Mean wind speeds were greater and precipitation, humidity, vegetation and water coverage were lower during this severe dust-activity period than in other periods. Comparing 2000-2004 with 1997-1999, DSI was five times higher and DSD eight times higher. The dust storms with the longest duration occurred in July 2001 and June 2008 (114 h and 78 h respectively). The July 2001 event, in which wind speed peaked at 25 m/s and visibility dropped to 100 m on several occasions, may be the longest continuous dust storm on record. The key role of water and vegetation cover in the Hamouns was highlighted, indicating the importance of protecting the Hamoun ecosystems and sustainably managing their water resources in efforts to mitigate dust storm hazards in the Sistan region., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Dust aerosols in North Africa account for >50% of the global total; however dust emission areas are still unclear. Based on the analysis of dust storms simulated with the numerical Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model, satellite aerosol index (AI), and the dust data observed at 300 meteorological stations over 20 years, the spatio-temporal distribution characteristics of dust storm, dust devil and AI are compared and analyzed. The results show that: 1) There are two dust emission mechanisms: the dynamically-dominated dust storm and thermally-dominated dust devil; 2) Dust storms occur most frequently in Spring and are concentrated in the areas of Grand Erg Occidental Desert to the Erg Chech-Adrar Desert, the northern part of Grand Erg Oriental, the Atouila Desert to the Ouarane Desert, the Mediterranean coast, the eastern side of Nubian Desert and Bodélé Depression; 3) Dust devils occur most frequently from April to August and are mainly concentrated in the central part of North Africa, especially in the southwest of Hoggar Mountains to the west of Air Mountains, the border area of Egypt - Sudan - Libya and the vicinity of Tibesti Plateau; 4) The spatio-temporal distribution of AI is correlated more with the dust devils emission whereas the annual average contributions by dust storms and dust devils are 61.3% and 38.7%, respectively. This study discovers a new area of dust emissions by dust devils, and provides a better explanation for the spatio-temporal distribution of AI in North Africa., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We declare that we do not have any commercial or associative interest that represents a conflict of interest in connection with the work submitted. No conflict of interest exits in the submission of this manuscript, and manuscript is approved by all authors for publication. I would like to declare on behalf of my co-authors that the work described was original research that has not been published previously, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere, in whole or in part. All the authors listed have approved the manuscript that is enclosed., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Long-range transport (LRT) reportedly carries air pollutants and microorganisms to downwind areas. LRT can be of various types, such as dust storm (DS) and frontal pollution (FP); however, studies comparing their effects on bioaerosols are lacking. This study evaluated the effect of LRT on viral and bacterial concentrations in Northern Taiwan. When LRT occurred and possibly affected Taiwan from August 2013 to April 2014, air samples (before, during, and after LRT) were collected in Cape Fugui (CF, Taiwan's northernmost point) and National Taiwan University (NTU). Reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was applied to quantify influenza A virus. qPCR and qPCR coupled with propidium monoazide were, respectively, used to quantify total and viable bacteria. Types and occurrence of LRT were confirmed according to the changing patterns of meteorological factors and air pollution, air mass sources (HYSPLIT model), and satellite images. Two Asian DS and three FP cases were included in this study. Influenza A virus was detected only on days before and during FP occurred on January 3-5, 2014, with concentrations of 0.87 and 10.19 copies/m 3 , respectively. For bacteria, the increase in concentrations of total and viable cells during Asian DSs (17-19 and 25-29 November 2013) was found at CF only (from 3.13 to 3.40 and from 2.62 to 2.85 log copies/m 3 , respectively). However, bacterial levels at NTU and CF both increased during FP and lasted for 2 days after FP. In conclusion, LRT increased the levels of influenza A virus and bacteria in the ambient air of Northern Taiwan, particularly at CF. During and 2 days (at least) after LRT, people should avoid outdoor activities, especially in case of FP., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Alpine rivers in mountainous regions are crucial not only for land-ocean transfer of chemical species and sediments, but also for water, food, and energy security. Here, we examined dissolved organic matter (DOM) from the major alpine waters on the Tibetan Plateau. Our results revealed a decreasing trend of DOM quantity juxtaposed to an increasing trend of aromaticity from the northern to southern plateau. This is potentially caused by a general decreasing gradient of dust load combined with an increasing gradient of precipitation and vegetation from the NW to SE plateau. Furthermore, most proglacial streams and smaller tributaries were found to be relatively dominated by tyrosine-like fluorescent DOM from glaciers. In contrast, most main stems of rivers and tributaries within larger catchment basins were more controlled by humic-like fluorescent DOM from terrestrial origins. Condensed aromatics accounts for 14-21% of molecular formulas for riverine DOM, much higher than the world's average of ~11%, which indicated anthropogenic black soot pollution. In addition, there is a higher level of DOM amount in the monsoon season than in winter, and DOM characteristics varied more widely (dissolved organic carbon concentration: 0.2-37 mg-C L -1 , Fluorescence Index: 1.2-1.8) on the Tibetan Plateau in comparison to other global alpine watersheds. This suggests heterogeneous land cover, anthropogenic, and climatic factors at play, which is reflected in DOM quantity and quality, over the highest plateau on Earth., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing interest., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study reports seasonal variations of meteorological parameters, atmospheric dust and dust-borne heavy metals concentrations measured, over a period of two years, next to two major airports (Dubai International Airport and Abu Dhabi International Airport) in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. On-line monitoring stations were installed at each location next to dust samplers used to frequently collect PM2.5 and PM10 on Teflon filters for metal analysis. Clear seasonal variation in meteorological parameters were identified. The particulate matter concentrations depicted from the two locations were continuously monitored. The PM2.5 concentration ranged from 50 to 100 μg/m 3 on normal days but reached 350-400 μg/m 3 per day during mild storms. The PM10 levels ranged between 100 and 250 μg/m 3 during normal days and spiked to 750 μg/m 3 during mild storms. Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (EDS) revealed the presence of significant amounts of alkali and alkaline earth metals, which pose potential harm to aircraft engines. ICP analysis showed the presence of heavy and toxic metals in concentrations that may pose harm to human health. Bulk sand samples from Abu Dhabi sites showed chemical similarities to the atmospheric dust samples. The concentrations of heavy metals, PM2.5, and PM10 are at levels that require further monitoring due to their impact on human health. The two years meteorological monitoring, with the seasonal variations, provided additional regional data in the Arabian Gulf. Furthermore, the study concluded that Sand and Dust storms (SDS) occur more frequently at the northern Arabian Gulf compared to its southern region. The chemical correlation between atmospheric dust and regional desert sand suggests the localized origin of the smaller dust particles that may form by breaking apart of the ground sand grains. As a result of the ongoing urbanization in the region, it is essential to collect additional data from various locations for a longer period of time., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

As global temperatures continue to increase and human activities continue to expand, many countries and regions are witnessing the consequences of global climate change. Mongolia, a nomadic and picturesque landlocked country, has battled with ongoing desertification, recurring droughts, and increasingly frequent sandstorms in recent decades. Here we review the abrupt changes in the climate regime of Mongolia over the recent few decades, by focusing on atmospheric events, land degradation and desertification issues, and the resulted sandstorms. We found that between mid-March to mid-April 2021, the country encountered violent gusts of wind, the Mongolia cyclone, and the largest sandstorms in a decade, causing extensive damages nationwide and trans-regional impact in East Asia including northern China, Japan, and most parts of South Korea. A multitude of factors have contributed to this current ecological crisis. Since 1992, the country has transformed to a market economy with high economic growth driven by mineral and agricultural exports. Overgrazing along with intensified human activities such as coal mining has contributed to the widespread land degradation in Mongolia, while climate change has become a major driving factor for recurring droughts. Annual mean air temperature in Mongolia increased by 2.24 °C between 1940 and 2015, while annual precipitation decreased by 7%, resulting in a higher aridity across the country. A positive feedback loop between soil moisture deficits and surface warming has led to a hotter and drier climate in the region, with over a quarter of lakes greater than 1.0-km 2 dried up in the Mongolian Plateau between 1987 and 2010. Increased temperatures, decreased precipitation coupled with land degradation have resulted in a persisting drying trend, with more than three-quarters of land in Mongolia being affected by drought and desertification. The 2021 East Asia sandstorms drew international attention to ecological issues that have culminated for decades in Mongolia. Collaborative efforts from policy makers, local residents, and scientists from both its local and the global research community are urgently needed to address the grand and rapidly aggravating ecological challenges in Mongolia., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that there is no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021.)

Dust particles are transported globally. Dust storms can adversely impact both human health and the environment, but they also impact transportation infrastructure, agriculture, and industry, occasionally severely. The identification of the locations that are the primary sources of dust, especially in arid and semi-arid environments, remains a challenge as these sites are often in remote or data-scarce regions. In this study, a new method using state-of-the-art machine-learning algorithms - random forest (RF), support vector machines (SVM), and multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) - was evaluated for its ability to spatially model the distribution of dust-source potential in eastern Iran. To accomplish this, empirically identified dust-source locations were determined with the ozone monitoring instrument aerosol index and the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Deep Blue aerosol optical thickness methods. The identified areas were divided into training (70%) and validation (30%) sets. Measurements of the conditioning factors (lithology, wind speed, maximum air temperature, land use, slope angle, soil, rainfall, and land cover) were compiled for the study area and predictive models were developed. The area-under-the-receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) and true-skill statistics (TSS) were used to validate the maps of the models' predictions. The results show that the RF algorithm performed best (AUC = 89.4% and TSS = 0.751), followed by the SVM (AUC = 87.5%, TSS = 0.73) and the MARS algorithm (AUC = 81%, TSS = 0.69). The results of the RF indicated that wind speed and land cover are the most important factors affecting dust generation. The region of highest dust-source potential that was identified by the RF is in the eastern parts of the study region. This model can be applied to other arid and semi-arid environments that experience dust storms to promote management that prevents desertification and reduces dust production., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Airborne particulate matter is associated with increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between air pollution conditions and MDA, vWF, and fibrinogen markers in the blood of two panels of healthy young individuals in an urban area in Tehran city with a high air pollution background and another group was living in a rural area (Ahmad Abad Mostofi), with a low air pollution background. In each group, 4 blood samples were taken as follows: one in inversion days, the second in winter, but during the existence of normal condition in terms of air pollution, the third sample in the spring during the normal condition in terms of air pollution and the fourth sample during the dust storm conditions. In the urban and rural groups, there was a significant difference between the concentration of MDA, vWF, fibrinogen between inversion and cold season control conditions, and between dust storm conditions and warm season control conditions (p < 0.05). The results showed that the association of dust storm condition on the measured biomarkers was stronger than the inversion condition, which health consideration in the dust conditions be taken into account similar to the inversion conditions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Anthropogenic climate change is influencing the incidence of dust storms and associated human exposure to coarse particulate matter (PM 2.5-10 ) in the United States. Studies have found adverse health consequences related to dust exposure. These consequences include respiratory disease exacerbations and premature mortality, resulting in increased health care utilization. However, the impact of dust storms on critical care demand has not been studied in the United States. We seek to quantify the relationship between dust storms and surges in critical care demand by investigating the association between dust storms and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions at nearby hospitals from 2000 to 2015. ICU data were acquired from Premier, Inc. and encompass 15-20% of all ICU admissions in the United States. Dust storm, meteorology, and air pollutant data were downloaded from the U.S. National Weather Service, the U.S. National Climatic Data Center, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency websites, respectively. Associations between ICU admission and dust storms, controlling for temperature, dew point temperature, ambient PM 2.5 and ozone, as well as seasonally varying confounders, were estimated using a distributed lag conditional Poisson model with overdispersion. We found a 4.8% (95% CI: 0.4, 9.4; p  = 0.033) increase in total ICU admissions on the day of the dust storm (Lag 0) and a 9.2% (95% CI: 1.8, 17.0; p  = 0.013) and 7.5% (95% CI: 0.3, 15.2; p  = 0.040) increase in respiratory admissions at Lags 0 and 5. North American dust storms are associated with increases in same day and lagged demand for critical care services at nearby hospitals., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest relevant to this study., (©2020. The Authors.)

The Sinkiang Uygur Autonomous Region is located in western China and the centre of the Asian-European continent, which frequently suffers from sandstorm disasters and haze weathers. A 1-year measurement campaign in two selected points in Shihezi and Urumqi of Sinkiang was conducted to characterise the effects of particle matters and factors on particle extinction under different weather conditions. Results showed that the average concentration of PM 1-2.5 was 19.83, 9.230, 28.93 and 122.4 μg/m 3 in Shihezi and 67.25, 16.80, 59.19 and 324.0 μg/m 3 in Urumqi for spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively. PM 5-10 concentrations can reach up to 500.0 and 160.0 μg/m 3 during polluted weather conditions in Shihezi and Urumqi, respectively. PM 5-10 also accounted for the largest fraction in Shihezi and Urumqi for all types of weather, reaching up to 40.0% under dusty weather conditions. PM 1-2.5 significantly increased during winter possibly due to the increased demand for heating compared with non-heating periods. PM 0.5-1 is possibly produced from motor vehicle exhaust. Particle size is concluded to be the dominant factor for particle extinction capability under fine weather based on calculations of aerosol optical properties. The refractive index for a particle with a diameter of 100 μm (3.10-3.11i) is substantially larger than that with a diameter of 0.5000 μm (1.600-0.07000i), but the extinction capability of the latter is 1.30 times that of the former. Comparatively, when the mass concentration of coarse particles is over 17.0 times that of the fine particles, and then mass concentration becomes the dominant factor. Therefore, visibility is negatively correlated to particle mass variations during dust storms and hazy days but not for fine days.

Dust storms during the pre-monsoon season (April-June) and crop residual burning events during the post-monsoon season (mid-October-mid-November) are common every year over the Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP). In this paper, we have compared dust storm and crop burning aerosols characteristics for the years 2016, 2017 and 2018 using ground and satellite data. CALIPSO data show that dust layers extended from the ground upto an altitude of about 5 km and the smoke from crop burning upto the height of 2 km. Characteristics of dust and crop burning aerosols show pronounced difference based on Kanpur AERONET data. Dominance of coarse particles (0.6-15 μm) during dust storms (pre-monsoon season), while fine particles (0.05-0.6 μm) dominate during crop residual burning. The spectral variations of single scattering albedo (SSA) during dusty days and crop burning days show low and high fractions of anthropogenic aerosols. We have also observed the impact of dust particles on Himalayan snow (cover, albedo and reflectance) and meteorological parameters (relative humidity and water vapor) on the surface and lower atmosphere using MODIS data and AIRS data at different pressure levels. Pronounced aerosols behaviors of the crop residual burning event coincided with Diwali festival on 30-31 October 2016 were observed. Our detailed analysis combining ground and satellite observations provides better understanding of aerosol optical and microphysical properties of dust storms and crop residual burnings. The results will be valuable in monitoring surrounding environment, identifying the emission source and dynamics of dust storms and crop burning emissions over India, especially in the IGP., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The impact of Mars's 2018 Global Dust Storm (GDS) on surface and near-surface air temperatures was investigated using an assimilation of Mars Climate Sounder observations. Rather than simply resulting in cooling everywhere from solar absorption (average surface radiative flux fell 26 W/m 2 ), the globally averaged result was a 0.9-K surface warming. These diurnally averaged surface temperature changes had a novel, highly nonuniform spatial structure, with up to 16-K cooling/19-K warming. Net warming occurred in low thermal inertia regions, where rapid nighttime radiative cooling was compensated by increased longwave emission and scattering. This caused strong nightside warming, outweighing dayside cooling. The reduced surface-air temperature gradient closely coupled surface and air temperatures, even causing local dayside air warming. Results show good agreement with Mars Climate Sounder surface temperature retrievals. Comparisons with the 2001 GDS and free-running simulations show that GDS spatial structure is crucial in determining global surface temperature effects., (©2019. The Authors.)

Northern China is a significant source of dust source in Central Asia. Thus, high-resolution analysis of dust storms and comparison of dust sources in different regions of northern China are important to clarify the formation mechanism of East Asian dust storms and predict or even prevent such storms. Here, we analyzed spatiotemporal trends in dust storms that occurred in three main dust source regions during 1960-2007: Taklimakan Desert (western region [WR]), Badain Jaran and Tengger Deserts (middle region [MR]), and Otindag Sandy Land (eastern region [ER]). We analyzed daily dust storm frequency (DSF) at the 10-day scale (first [FTDM], middle [MTDM], and last [LTDM] 10 days of a month), and investigated the association of dust storm occurrences with meteorological factors. The 10-day DSF was greatest in the FTDM (accounting for 77.14% of monthly occurrences) in the WR, MTDM (45.85%) in the MR, and LTDM (72.12%) in the ER, showing a clear trend of movement from the WR to the ER. Temporal analysis of DSF revealed trend changes over time at annual and 10-day scales, with mutation points at 1985 and 2000. We applied single-factor and multiple-factor analyses to explore the driving mechanisms of DSF at the 10-day scale. Among single factors, a low wind-speed threshold, high solar radiation, and high evaporation were correlated with a high DSF, effectively explaining the variations in DSF at the 10-day scale; however, temperature, relative humidity, and precipitation poorly explained variations in DSF. Similarly, multiple-factor analysis using a classification and regression tree revealed that maximum wind speed was a major influencing factor of dust storm occurrence at the 10-day scale, followed by relative humidity, evaporation, and solar radiation; temperature and precipitation had weak influences. These findings help clarify the mechanisms of dust storm occurrence in East Asia., Competing Interests: Declarations of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study recognizes present dust emission sources (DESs) and their future projections in the southwest of Iran (2050 and 2070) through simulations performed by distribution models. The sites observation, raster dataset of climate layers and statistical models in the MaxEnt software were used to predict the current and future dust coverage and distribution, and their response to climate change using representative concentration pathways (RCPs) scenarios of +2.6, +4.5, +6.0, and +8.5 W m -2 projections. Statistical machine learning analysis show that 40.8% of the study area covering 25,810 km 2 are susceptible to emit dust at the present time, and its projections will increase up to 28,839, 26,002, 26,071 and 26,124 km 2 for RCP scenarios of +2.6, +4.5, +6.0, and +8.5 W m -2 , respectively, by the year 2070. Temperature and precipitation assessments show that the most effective parameters determine future changes in DES coverage and distribution. The area under the curve (AUC) for DESs was 0.919, and results of Jackknife analyses show high sensitivity of dust sources to climate variables. The results illustrate that the present DESs are mainly driven by a combination of temperature, precipitation and land-use management, and the effects of nature are comparable to the anthropogenic activities, as humans continue to shape the DESs through energy, water and land use. The predicted increase of DESs may substantially worsen dust storms in the future, thereby affecting the functioning of ecosystems as well as human health. The outcomes of this study may support biocrust restoration technologies as a suitable option in sustainable management of arid lands and dust emission sources., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest There is no conflict of interest for this manuscript., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Dust storms are environmental natural events that transport high concentrations of particulate matter (PM) in living spaces. Recent epidemiological studies have shown that air pollution is associated with stroke. In the present study we aimed to investigate the probable protective effects of gallic acid (GA) on blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption, brain oxidative stress, anxiety, depression, locomotion behaviors, and changes of hippocampal local electroencephalogram (local EEG) power induced by 4-vessel transient occlusion (4VO I/R) following exposure to dusty PM in rats. Male Wistar rats were divided randomly into eight groups: (1) vehicle+Sham (Veh + Sh), (2) vehicle+4VO I/R (Veh + I/R), (3) gallic acid+sham (GA + Sh), (4) gallic acid+4VO I/R (GA + I/R), (5) vehicle+PM (Veh + PM), (6) PM + 4VO I/R (PM + I/R), (7) gallic acid+PM + Sham (GA + PM + Sh), and (8) gallic acid+PM + 4Vo I/R (GA + PM + I/R). 4VO type of I/R was induced after 10 days of pretreatment by GA 100 mg/kg/2 ml/ip, or 2 ml/kg/ip, normal saline as vehicle (Veh) and exposure to dust storm composed of dusty PM (DPM, 2000-8000 μg/m3), 60 min daily for consecutive 10 days) simultaneously. Seventy-two hours after I/R induction, all behavioral tests and BBB permeability evaluation were done. Hippocampus local EEG was recorded just before and 72 h after I/R induction, and finally brain tissue oxidative stress was assayed. Data showed that 4VO I/R following exposure to DPM increased BBB permeability (p < 0.001), brain oxidative stress (p < 0.001), induced anxiety (p < 0.001), depression (p < 0.01), locomotion impairment (p < 0.001), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and local EEG power also were decreased in PM + Sh (p < 0.001). Pretreatment with GA reversed BBB permeability and MDA. Our findings suggest that GA is a probable protective agent against adverse effects of both I/R and exposure to DPM and also in I/R subjects exposed to DPM. The beneficial effects of GA may induce by its antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties.

The transpacific transport of mineral dust often occurs in spring, and a large amount of aeolian dust is deposited in the Asian continent and north Pacific. Moreover, a heterogeneous reaction occurs when dust particles are mixed with man-made pollution gases and particles. In the present study, atmospheric PM 10 and PM 2.5 concentrations were investigated, and a scanning electron microscope and an X-ray energy spectrometer were used to analyze the effects of dust resistance and capture by forests. It showed that (1) the PM 2.5 and PM 10 concentrations during a dust storm, on sunny days, and during light pollution periods, were higher in the non-forest covered area (NFC area) than in the forest covered area (FC area), except during heavy pollution events; which suggests that the forests have a strong effect on dust resistance; (2) the PM reduction efficiency of forests was highest on sunny days, followed by light pollution periods, heavy pollution periods, and during the dust storm; (3) after the dust storm, TSP captured by leaves significantly increased, especially for the broadleaved tree species; and the particulates number in the grooves on leaves' surface increased particularly sharply. This study will help improve the dust resistance and retention efficiency of forest shelterbelt projects during dust storms.

The Indian capital Delhi experienced an environmental emergency in early November 2017 when levels of toxic PM 2.5 particles surpassed WHO guidelines by 25 times (11 times by Indian Standards) for a prolonged period of a week (peak 24 h average ~650 μg/m 3 ). We hereby demonstrate the role that monsoon dynamics played in linking and mixing dust emitted from a large natural dust storm, 3000 km away in the Middle East, with smoke from agriculture fires in northwest India. This dust and smoke rich air was then transported to Delhi where, under stagnant conditions, it mixed with local emissions resulting in very high pollution levels. The heavy aerosol-laden air altered the land-skin surface air temperature difference resulting in increased surface wind speeds, favouring faster dispersion and an unusual sharp decline in PM 2.5 (PM 2.5 -110 μg/m 3 ). Understanding the multi-scale nature of such events is important in improving our abilities to forecast these events and in developing effective air quality management strategies for the mega cities., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) is a complex, multi-disciplinary, and culture-dependent concept. This study aims to explore a conceptual definition, the subjective framework of CCA including its domains, attributes, and consequences. The approach of qualitative conventional content analysis was considered for the explanation of the subjective concept, and at the same time as the collection process, data analysis was performed using Zhang and Wildemuth's method. The interview method was semi-structured and sampling was targeted and with maximum diversity. The interview was conducted with 22 qualified experts. The accuracy and validity of the data were ensured using Guba and Lincoln scientific accuracy criteria. Six main categories including "sustainability, productivity, stability, empowerment, transformation, and flexibility" were conceptualized in the theme of adaptation characteristics. "Sustainable development, life improvement, response coordination and integration, creativity and innovation, resilience promotion, vulnerability reduction, effective management, and independence" were the main categories in the theme of the adaptation consequences. According to the results, the following conceptual-functional definition can be presented for adaptation to climate change: "CCA refers to the ability of system instability, sustainability, empowerment, productivity, flexibility, and transformation to climate change through the optimal use of resources, resistance, and coping, capacity building and opportunity creation". This definition is conceptual, it means that includes the main features of climate-adaptation and is also functional that is, includes adaptation strategies for climate change., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.)

Background: The health burden from exposure to air pollution has been studied in many parts of the world. However, there is limited research on the health effects of air quality in arid areas where sand dust is the primary particulate pollution source., Objective: Study the risk of mortality from exposure to poor air quality days in Kuwait., Methods: We conducted a time-series analysis using daily visibility as a measure of particulate pollution and non-accidental total mortality from January 2000 through December 2016. A generalized additive Poisson model was used adjusting for time trends, day of week, and temperature. Low visibility (yes/no), defined as visibility lower than the 25th percentile, was used as an indicator of poor air quality days. Dust storm events were also examined. Finally, we examined these associations after stratifying by gender, age group, and nationality (Kuwaitis/non-Kuwaitis)., Results: There were 73,748 deaths from natural causes in Kuwait during the study period. The rate ratio comparing the mortality rate on low visibility days to high visibility days was 1.01 (95% CI: 0.99-1.03). Similar estimates were observed for dust storms (1.02, 95% CI: 1.00-1.04). Higher and statistically significant estimates were observed among non-Kuwaiti men and non-Kuwaiti adolescents and adults., Conclusion: We observed a higher risk of mortality during days with poor air quality in Kuwait from 2000 through 2016., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)