By Sid Perkins
First in a two-part series on environmental effects of long-range transport of dust. Part 2: Ill Winds. Available at Ill Winds.
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On April 15, 1998, Mongolia’s Gobi Desert lay between an area of low atmospheric pressure on the eastern end of the country and a zone of high pressure to the west. As swift winds rushed across the desert floor, they lofted sand and dust into the heart of a storm system racing southward into China. During the next 2 days, a yellow, muddy, acidic rain fell in a wide swath that covered Beijing and the Korean peninsula.