Read full article in the February Issue of
Scientific AmericanThe February Edition of Scientific American features the work of DRI’s Joseph McConnell, Ph.D. The article includes interviews with several scientists whose research examines how dust influences climate and cloud formation—and the fertilization of oceans and rain forests.

McConnell’s analysis of the dust accumulations and concentrations in the ice in Greenland and Antarctica is part of the article titled “Swept from Africa to the Amazon what the journey of a handful of dust tells us about our fragile planet” . Climate has a big effect on dust levels and dust levels also have a big impact on climate. McConnell and his research group make detailed measurements of dust-related elements in ice cores to study how dust sources, atmospheric transport processes, and concentrations have changed during recent decades, centuries, and millennia. McConnell collaborates with climate modelers from around the U.S. and the world to understand the relationships between climate, human activities such as land clearing, and dustiness.

You can read the entire article and see examples of McConnell’s dust measurements in the February Issue of Scientific American.