Sidebar: DUSTRAN Predicts Dust Dispersion from Military Training Exercises

In 2001, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest Laboratory in Richland, Washington, began a four-year project to create an atmospheric dispersion modeling system known as DUSTRAN, (an acronym for dust transport), for the Department of Defense. DUSTRAN purpose is assessing the impact of military training and testing on local and regional air quality managing dust-generating activities and developing dust-mitigation strategies. The primary users of the DUSTRAN system are officials of military bases where windblown dust is a concern.