Relative importance of climate and land use in determining present and future global soil dust emission
Article first published online: 3 MAR 2004
Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume 31, Issue 5, March 2004
How to Cite
2004), Relative importance of climate and land use in determining present and future global soil dust emission, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L05105, doi:10.1029/2003GL019216., , , and (
- Issue published online: 3 MAR 2004
- Article first published online: 3 MAR 2004
- Manuscript Accepted: 2 FEB 2004
- Manuscript Revised: 22 JAN 2004
- Manuscript Received: 4 DEC 2003
 The current consensus is that up to half of the modern atmospheric dust load originates from anthropogenically-disturbed soils. Here, we estimate the contribution to the atmospheric dust load from agricultural areas by calibrating a dust-source model with emission indices derived from dust-storm observations. Our results indicate that dust from agricultural areas contributes <10% to the global dust load. Analyses of future changes in dust emissions under several climate and land-use scenarios suggest dust emissions may increase or decrease, but either way the effects of climate change will dominate dust emissions.