Our Cluster studies how mineral #dust moves through the #CriticalZone, the part of the Earth which supports surface life.

As part of a three day meeting finding ways to pool their knowledge and advance #EnvironmentalScience members of the nine clusters in the Critical Zone Collaborative Network visited a #FieldSite near #SaltLakeCity which provides some of our #dust on #snow data, managed by a #Dustˆ2 team based at the #University of #Utah.

More about their work: https://kslnewsradio.com/2013500/how-altas-dirtiest-snow-year-ended-its-2022-snowmelt-process-2-weeks-early.

#Soil grows from #dust. But how the #dust gets to the place it will become soil is exactly what the #CriticalZone Collaborative Network's #Dustˆ2 Cluster studies. Here's an overview of the cluster's work from one of the team's #PrincipalInvestigators @jmunroe based at @middlebury

#EnvironmentalScience

https://youtu.be/8Yrh5tu9A-4

Great example of how #Dustˆ2 Cluster members work with their local communities to better understand the workings of the #ComplexSystems in the #CriticalZone.

https://attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff/dirty-downpour/

Janice Brahney is based at the University of #Utah and is a member of the #CriticalZone Collaborative Network's #Dustˆ2 Cluster.

Our Cluster members are involved in many other projects advancing the work of #EnvironmentalScience. As well as her work as a faculty member and research scientist she's also on the #EditorialBoard of #Freshwater Science, a journal published by the University of #Chicago. Read the latest issue via the link below.

#OpenAccess #hydrology

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/fws/current

#ScienceFriday included University of #Utah based Cluster Member Kevin Perry in a March 2023 broadcast on #NPR.

"The thought that we’re at the cusp of losing this vital ecosystem [the #GreatSaltLake] in this absolutely wonderful place just makes me really sad."

Listen to the broadcast, read the full transcript.

#CriticalZone #Dustˆ2 #EnvironmentalScience #ClimateCrisis

https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/saving-the-great-salt-lake-utah/

Story about recent #dust storms in #Utah.

"Dust pollution is harmful on its own, ravaging the lungs, flaring up asthma and causing inflammation. The lake’s sediment also contains dangerous materials like #arsenic and other heavy #metals. The impact those pollutants are having on #Wasatch Front residents remains unknown."

This is why we are doing this work in the #Dustˆ2 Cluster. We want to be able to better understand the impact of those #pollutants.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2023/05/19/great-salt-lake-is-still-blowing/

#CriticalZone

Members of the #Dustˆ2 Cluster often collaborate with policy makers as we learn more about how #LandUse and #ClimateChange influence the movement of dust in the #CriticalZone.

Look for Cluster member @jmunroe at @EuroGeosciences #EGU23 this week and find out more about how this team is part of finding solutions to large scale environmental emergencies like the collapse of the #GreatSaltLake in #Utah.

#EGU23 continues today. @middlebury based, Cluster member @jmunroe is sharing about the #Dustˆ2 project during the meeting.

Munroe is a regular attendee at @EuroGeosciences and offers some thoughts about what not to do during the meeting.

It's tempting, Munroe says, to want to see everything. But sometimes there's value in staying in one place and absorbing the #science around you.

#CriticalZone #geology

Here's the #QRCode for the @EuroGeosciences #EGU23 session which will describe some of the work happening in the #Dustˆ2 Cluster.

#CriticalZone #geology

The #GreatSaltLake is in danger. Cluster members have been sounding warning bells for years about #environmental changes that are the root cause of the threat. Here's coverage from #Utah's ABC4 from a symposium held last week where #Dustˆ2 researchers participated.

https://www.abc4.com/news/politics/this-is-our-top-priority-symposium-highlights-measures-to-save-great-salt-lake/

Video uploaded!

Cluster member @jmunroe was the guest in a #Dust Alliance for North America on Friday March 10.

The video recording from the even has been added to the DANA website and can be found here:

https://dust.cira.colostate.edu/archive/

Thank you, DANA, for hosing a member of the #Dustˆ2 Cluster. This video is also a bit of a preview of what Munroe will be presenting about at #EGU23 next month.

#CriticalZone #Southwest #SciComm

#EGU23 is coming soon!

Cluster member @jmunroe will be presenting about the work of the #Dustˆ2 team on Tuesday, 25 April.

Read the abstract and add to your: https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU23/EGU23-9012.html

#Dust #CriticalZone

Some screenshots from a March 10 workshop with @middlebury based Cluster member @jmunroe.

Munroe presented about the Cluster's work, showing his ongoing commitment to researching #dust in the Southwest US, the #blueprints of a passive collector he developed, and answered questions about the #Dustˆ2 project.

Details and place where the recording will be posted:

https://dust.cira.colostate.edu/archive/

Thank you to the Dust Alliance for North America for hosting this event.

#SciComm #CriticalZone

@sflorg These findings are fascinating. And highlight the importance of our continuing #SourceToSink research in the #CriticalZone Collaborative Network's #Dust Cluster. #Dustˆ2

Great profile of #Dustˆ2 member and #BrighamYoungUniversity based Greg Carling.

https://youtu.be/Jk8MGz-qsSo

#CriticalZone #geology #BYU

The Great Salt Lake Strike Team, including #Dustˆ2 researcher Kevin Perry, just released a powerful and succinct summary of the factors contributing to the current historic low lake level, and policy options for addressing this situation. #Utah https://gardner.utah.edu/great-salt-lake-strike-team/

Long term research sites situated across the southwestern United States are the source of the samples providing data for #Dustˆ2 projects.

Cluster member @jmunroe regularly visits the sites, some very remote, to collect those samples.

It's a place he's been working and studying for most of his career.

In this audio recorded in 2020 at the start of our 5-year project, Munroe reflects on his connection with this area of the world.

#EarthScience #geology #CriticalZone #SciComm

Deadman Lake in #Utah.

In this video #Dustˆ2 Cluster member @jmunroe describes what he sees as he watches this footage recorded during the 2020 #FieldSeason and how it motivates his #CriticalZone research.

#EarthScience #geology #EnvironmentalScience #SciComm

It is as doom and gloomy as it sounds.

Continued reporting about the approaching end of the Great Salt Lake as it has been known to humans. This story from #TheGuardian is based on a paper co-authored by members of the #Dustˆ2 Cluster as well as members of other #CriticalZone Collaborative Network Clusters.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/10/utah-great-salt-lake-collapse-imminent

#Utah #SciComm #ScienceCommunication #EarthScience #Science

From 2020. We've been talking with @jmunroe regularly about the work of the #Dustˆ2 cluster.

In this video from early in the first year of our five year #NSF funded #CriticalZone project, Munroe describes how our work is part of developing a better understanding the role of #dust in a changing climate.

We're hoping to present some of this work as part of #EGU23

#EarthScience #Science #geoscience #ClimateCrisis