Tiny Dust Particles from Asian Deserts Common Over Western United States It has been a decade since University of Washington scientists first pinpointed specific instances of air pollution, including Gobi Desert dust, traversing the Pacific Ocean and adding to the mix of atmospheric pollution already present along the West Coast of North America. Now a UW researcher is finding that dust from the Gobi and Taklimakan deserts in China and Mongolia is routinely present in the air over the western United States during spring months. "We are interested in Asian dust that comes across the Pacific because particles can have an impact on health, as well as on visibility," said Emily Fischer, a UW doctoral student in atmospheric sciences. "Most previous work has been very event specific, but this research looks at how the average background aerosol concentrations vary on a year-to-year basis." "The transport of dust across the Pacific is not a new phenomenon," Fischer said. "But we are just beginning to understand it and quantify it on a year-to-year basis instead of on a case-by-case basis....