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April 1, 2002 — Another dust storm from China blew across Japan today. If the previous weather patterns hold, the storm should reach the United States within three to four days. The large dust storm that blew from China March 22 hit the Northwest USA last Thursday and crossed over Colorado on Friday. Though much of the dust storm dissipated by the time it made its way across the continental U.S., parts of Colorado experienced some haziness from the particles, according to NOAA. (Click NOAA satellite image for larger view of dust storm over Korea, the Yellow Sea and Sea of Japan taken March 25, 2002. Please credit "NOAA.")

Scientist Russ Schnell, with NOAA's Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., said the dust storm that hit the U.S. last Friday was not as intense as when it left China. "By the time it arrived in the U.S. cloud cover helped dissipate the dust particles. Now the diminished dust storm is all but gone," said Schnell.

NOAA will be studying the air chemistry of similar Asian outflows that cross the Pacific in the Intercontinental Transport and Chemical Transformation (ITCT) program beginning in late April from a newly established NOAA/CMDL baseline station site at Trinidad Head, Calif., and with a NOAA WP-3D research aircraft flying out of Monterey, Calif., beginning around April 16.

Relevant Web Sites
NOAA's Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory

What is the Ozone Layer?

ACE-Asia — Asian Pacific Regional Aerosol Characterization Experiments

NOAA Current Satellite Imagery

Media Contact:
Barbara McGehan, NOAA Research, Boulder, Colo., at (303) 497-6288