LAS CRUCES, N.M. >> Over the last four years, researchers at New Mexico State University have been involved in a bi-national study focused on pinpointing dust sources and evaluating the health effects of windstorms in the border region.

Funded through the New Mexico Department of Health's Office of Border Health, this project combines expertise from NMSU, the New Mexico Environment Department, the University of Texas at El Paso, the Autonomous University of Juarez and the Desert Research Institute, to achieve a better understanding of the sources of air quality contaminants and how weather affects air quality.

"We happen to be downwind of a global dust hotspot. That's largely responsible for turning our skies white during these major dust events," Charlie Jackson, an NMSU applied geography graduate student involved in the project, said of the Lake Palomas Basin located in the northern Chihuahuan Desert.

In a region tormented by frequent dust emissions, NMSU has been involved in establishing a more comprehensive air quality-monitoring network to identify trends and locate areas in need of air pollution mitigation in southwestern New Mexico, west Texas, and northwest Chihuahua.

"The ultimate goal here is both in air quality management and public health," said David DuBois, New Mexico State Climatologist and principle investigator for the Bi-National Air Quality Program.