Climatic controls upon dust storm occurrence in eastern Australia

Dust storms occur over large areas of arid and semi-arid Australia and are responsible for eroding large quantities of topsoil, yet the climatic controls on their occurrence are poorly understood. The Et Index of wind erosion, described here, uses readily available meteorological data to identify two major wind erosion regions in eastern Australia and describes seasonal controls of wind conditions and soil moisture upon dust storm occurrence. These results provide a better understanding of the drought-dust storm relationship in Australia, and the model has applications in broadscale wind erosion studies in the arid and semi-arid developing world. (C)1998 Academic Press Limited.