Lead Isotopes in North American Precipitation Record the Presence of Saharan Dust

A paper published online in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society reports on a collaboration between the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) housed at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) along with the WSLH’s Trace Elements Clean Lab and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) studying lead isotopes in precipitation during the Saharan dust incursion into southeast U.S. last summer.

From the abstract: “This storm provided a means to evaluate the influence of Saharan dust in North America confirmed by independent satellite and ground observations.”

The photo below from NASA Worldview shows the dust storm cloud in June 2020.