Environmental exposures play a critical role in shaping physical and mental health, yet integrating such data into biomedical research remains technically complex and fragmented. The EnvironMENTAL Climate, Urbanicity, Environment and Society (CLUES) framework is an open-source, end-to-end workflow for generating individual-level environmental exposure data. CLUES automates the selection and download of open-access geospatial datasets, standardises spatial and temporal formats, and maps projections, and links resulting environmental variables to individual-level biomedical data, requiring no prior expertise in geospatial data. CLUES covers key environmental domains, including urban and natural space, climate and weather extremes, air pollution, and regional socioeconomic conditions. Designed for extensibility and cross-cohort applicability, it enables multidimensional exposure mapping across global settings and adheres to FAIR (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusability) and privacy-compliant data protection principles. In this work, we present the CLUES framework and evaluate its scalability, computational performance, and reproducibility for large-scale biomedical research.

Long-distance aeolian dust transport is fundamental in shaping dryland environments and adjacent deposition regions, influencing sediment budgets, soil development, and ecosystem functioning. The Eastern Mediterranean constitutes a key corridor for Saharan dust transport, yet multi-proxy studies linking depositional records with atmospheric transport modelling are scarce. This study presents new insights into the provenance, transport dynamics, and seasonal variability of long-range aeolian dust deposited on the island of Crete (Greece), integrating laboratory sediment analyses with simulated air-mass trajectories.Deposition samples were collected over a 15-month period at seven sites across western Crete, complemented by analyses of local surface material and reference aerosols from North Africa. Mineralogical composition, grain-size distribution, and radiogenic isotope ratios (Nd, Pb, Sr) reveal that deposited material is dominated by long range transported Saharan dust, with only minor local contributions. The persistent presence of palygorskite, uniform silt-dominated grain-size spectra, and isotopic signatures distinct from local substrates clearly indicate a North African origin. Temporal variability greatly exceeds spatial variability, and no substantial topography-related sorting is observed across the Lefka-Ori mountain range.Seasonal shifts in mineralogical assemblages and isotopic composition indicate changes in dominant source regions, ranging from northeastern Algeria during winter to northeastern Libya and northwestern Egypt in summer, with transitional phases in spring and autumn. Transport-related fractionation is reflected in the depletion of coarse grain-size fractions and soluble minerals such as gypsum, as well as in variable illite/kaolinite ratios, pointing to mixing of particles from multiple source areas rather than single-source contributions.To evaluate the plausibility of these interpretations and to assess the added value of combining depositional records with atmospheric modelling, laboratory-derived provenance indicators were compared with backward trajectories calculated using the HYSPLIT model for days with increased dust concentrations in the deposition region. The comparison highlights how the integration of mineralogical and isotopic fingerprints, deposition and concentration measurements, and modelled air-mass trajectories enhances the resolution of dust source attribution beyond what each approach can achieve independently.This combined methodological framework advances our understanding of aeolian processes in large-scale aeolian systems and demonstrates the potential of integrated proxy-model approaches for reconstructing dust dynamics, with implications for geomorphic processes, and human environment interactions in dust-affected regions.

Dust in the atmosphere of Mars, along with its radiative effects, is the central factor for understanding the Martian climate. Global circulation models and remote sensing observations are used to shed light on the evolution of Martian dust storms. Trajectories of Martian dust storms have been investigated by manual treatment of Mars daily global maps from the MARs Color Imager. However, the tracking of dust storms has neither been automated, nor systematically compared with modeled dust storm trajectories. We therefore developed a simple algorithm to detect regions with an enhanced atmospheric dust content and to attribute these regions to a trajectory. We applied this algorithm to daily global maps of measurements of the column dust optical depth for Mars Years 24-35, and found 20 dust storm trajectories lasting for at least 10 Sols. We compared these observation-based trajectories with the corresponding model-based trajectories from our own simulations using the global circulation model Mars Planetary Climate Model version 6. The obtained distributions of storm speed and direction of propagation show strong similarities between observations and model, demonstrating a reasonably good performance of the model with regard to dust storm trajectories. We find that most dust storms on Mars are traveling east- or westwards, but that dust storms propagating westwards are less well represented in the model. The developed algorithm can be used as a tool for model evaluation, but also for tracking meteorological conditions along dust storms' trajectories, allowing for further development of dust storm understanding.

Abstract Environmental exposures are increasingly examined in relation to mental health, yet large-scale epidemiological analyses remain constrained by fragmented geospatial data, heterogeneous spatial and temporal resolutions, and privacy-preserving linkage requirements, limiting systematic investigation of multiple environmental domains at the population level. We present environMAP, a harmonised set of analysis-ready environmental exposure layers derived from open, global sources. environMAP spans the built environment, green and blue spaces, light exposure (solar radiation and night-time light), terrain, weather and extremes, and air pollution. We document data provenance, spatial buffers, preprocessing, projection alignment, and metadata, and provide a reproducible workflow for privacy-preserving linkage to cohort residential locations. To demonstrate utility, we linked environMAP to >200,000 adults in the German National Cohort (NAKO) and summarised self-reported lifetime doctor-diagnosed depression across exposure gradients using sex-stratified descriptive analyses. Gradients were interpretable and broadly consistent with prior evidence, supporting feasibility, scalability, and hypothesis generation. The framework is adaptable to other outcomes, cohorts, and regions.

East Asian dust storms impact the health and livelihoods of millions but the atmospheric processes responsible are far from fully understood because suitable observations are lacking. Here we analyse dust source activation (DSA) frequency data for East Asia (80-130 degrees E, 27-52 degrees N, January 2016 through December 2023, Chen et al., 2025, 10.1088/1748-9326/addee6) to understand atmospheric controls on dust activation. We show that East Asia's two primary dust source regions (Chen et al., 2025) display distinct diurnal and seasonal variations in DSA frequency. A southern region, sandwiched between the Mongolian Plateau and the Tibetan Plateau, chiefly consisting of the Taklimakan Desert and the Alashan Plateau, is active year-round, with 40 %-60 % of events predominantly occurring during late morning (09:00-12:00 local solar time, LST) under clear-sky conditions. We show that breakdown of the Low-level Jet (LLJ) is a major control on dust activation across this region (not only the Taklimakan Desert), driven by morning heating of the land surface, deepening the convective boundary layer and momentum transfer to the land surface. Here, convective activities also contribute to cloud-associated dust source activations during summer afternoon (i.e., haboobs). A northern region, centred on the Mongolian Plateau-Gobi Desert is dust-active from morning to afternoon (08:00-19:00 LST), primarily under cloudy conditions, driven by the passage of low-pressure systems. A third (less active) dust source region, the Tibetan Plateau, is typically active during winter afternoons presumably in response to strong mountain-valley winds. Meso- and local-scale winds are more extensive drivers of dust activation across East Asia than previously documented, adding uncertainty to model predictions of future dust emissions in East Asia under a warming climate.

Two 2022 measurement campaigns in Cape Verde provided a unique opportunity to collect mineral dust aerosols from multiple Saharan source regions and characterize their composition. Mineral dust aerosols comprise a complex assemblage of minerals with distinct physico-chemical properties and differentiated climatic impacts through interactions with radiation, cloud microphysics, and atmospheric chemistry. A crucial physical property governing these interactions is the particle size distribution (PSD), influencing aerosol optical properties, transport, and deposition. Although contemporary atmospheric models have begun integrating mineralogical data into their dust aerosol representations, implementation faces complications due to variations in dust emission parameterizations, making compatibility with soil mineralogical databases model-dependent.This work addresses the challenges encountered when incorporating mineralogical information into the COSMO5.05-MUSCAT atmospheric model, which employs the dust emission scheme. We present an improved approach that refines the translation of mineralogical soil PSDs into emitted aerosol PSDs. This improved approach is evaluated using historical Saharan dust measurements and new mineralogical observations from the JATAC2022 and DUSTRISK2022 campaigns. Model performance is assessed using a dual validation framework considering both mineral-resolved and elemental composition. The elemental validation provides additional constraints on model performance, exposing biases in composition that mineral-only comparisons may obscure due to the aggregate nature of mineral dust particles. Results indicate that the proposed modification substantially improves representation of phyllosilicates (illite, kaolinite, and smectite), quartz, and feldspar, while biases in iron, calcium, and magnesium highlight fundamental challenges in representing the heterogeneous internal structure of natural dust particles.

Abstract The observed inter‐annual variability of Global Dust Events (GDE) occurrence on Mars remains challenging to understand and therefore to predict. Several hypotheses have been investigated so far, but a central aspect seems to be missing: How the heterogeneity of the surface dust cover and regolith particle size distributions relate to regional discrepancies in dust emission. We set up a framework based on saltation theory and surface wind stress scenarios to perform simulations of the vertical dust emission flux at a low computational cost. By implementing a relationship between the Dust Cover Index and dust particle mobilization thresholds and emission efficiencies, our work shows that the geographic heterogeneity of surface dust particle sizes may constitute a key feature to better understand the explosive growth of GDEs and their inter‐annual variability.

Dust aerosols are a key component of the Earth's climate system. However, global climate models often depict mineral dust as a uniform aerosol. This simplification limits the physical realism of dust simulations, necessitating comparison with available observations to determine whether mineralogical variability is accurately represented when incorporated into a global climate-aerosol model.In this study, we examine how well a mineralogical soil database translates into realistic mineral-resolved dust transport and deposition in the global climate model ICON coupled with the aerosol module HAM. This implementation is based on the mineralogical soil database of Journet et al. (2014), as modified by Goncalves-Ageitos et al. (2023), and it explicitly represents 12 individual minerals. Using multi-year global simulations, we evaluate the simulated mineralogical dust cycle with a focus on emission patterns, transport pathways, regional deposition, and the representation of seasonal and interannual variability. Model results are compared with available observations and datasets to assess the added value and limitations of mineral-resolved dust representation.The evaluation demonstrates where mineralogical information helps to better constrain dust transport and deposition and identifies key uncertainties that remain. These results provide a basis for future work on mineral-specific dust deposition and its role in biogeochemical cycles.

The influence of long-range dust on soils and different ecological processes in deposition regions in the eastern Mediterranean depends primarily on the deposited amounts and therefore on transport dynamics, while its geochemical and mineralogical composition also plays an important role. As local distributions cannot be fully represented and analyzed by satellite data due to its relatively coarse spatial and temporal resolution, ground truth data is required. For this purpose, a network of eight sampling/monitoring stations was installed around the Lefka Ori mountains in western Crete (Greece), each equipped with a deposition sampler and an optical-particle-counter in order to detect the spatial variability in dust concentration and deposition. Measured dust concentrations for the period from March 2023 to April 2024 show significant differences between the individual site locations. By comparison with meteorological data, correlations with wind directions can be identified. Thereby, wind directions during dust events generally differ significantly between stations. Furthermore, we are able to differentiate between a fine-grained (< 1 mu m in diameter) background dust load and event-based coarser-grained (1-10 mu m) dust loads as well as between synoptically and regionally induced dust events. First results of mineralogical analysis clearly identify the deposited fine material to be of north African origin, indicated by the presence of kaolinite, sepiolite and palygorskite. In combination with high-resolution meteorological data, the measurement design allows for the differentiation between the influences of synoptic and local to regional conditions and therefore contributes to a detailed understanding of dust distribution in western Crete.

Vegetation fires represent a major, mostly anthropogenically-driven, component of the Earth system that are affecting different landscapes in multiple regions of the globe and are supposed to increase further in number and severity with the ongoing climate change. Measurements and conceptional model studies have already shown that the fire-induced disturbance of the near-surface wind patterns allow for the mobilization of soil dust particles and their injection into the atmosphere through the pyro-convective updrafts related to the fires. However, the dust emission schemes of the current generation of aerosol-climate models do not consider this fire-related emission pathway and focus on wind-driven dust emissions of mostly unvegetated landscapes such as deserts only. This can result in an underrepresentation of dust particles in the fire-affected regions with consequences regarding a correct representation of aerosol-atmosphere interactions such as the radiation budget.Therefore, the present study aims to provide more insights concerning the importance of fire-driven dust emissions in the climate system. In order to achieve this, the process was implemented as a new emission pathway into the aerosol module HAM (Hamburg Aerosol Module) of the newly coupled aerosol-climate model ICON-HAM. Information about the behavior of the fire-affected wind fields and their potential to overcome typical emission thresholds have been used to set the dust emission fluxes in relation to data of the global fire activity, expressed by the fire radiative power (FRP), and to land-surface characteristics such as soil type and surface roughness.Multi-year global simulations of ICON-HAM were analyzed to quantify the impacts of the additional dust emissions caused by the fire activity and their injection parameterization on a seasonal and continental scale. It was found that the strength of the fire-related dust emissions strongly depends on the region where the fire occurs, which is determined by the local soil-surface conditions and not only by the fire strength. However, the vegetation fires can lead to an increase of the atmospheric dust load even in regions far away from those commonly known as dust source areas, highlighting that fire-driven dust emissions can substantially contribute to the total aerosol load and in particular its composition within fire-prone regions or also within a fire-prone climate.

Desert pavements are a global phenomenon in arid environments, representing one of the most extensive geomorphological and geoecological features on Earth. To a large extent, they determine the interplay of key processes governing current and past landscape dynamics including landform evolution, surface runoff, soil water dynamics, weathering and soil formation, microbial processes, dust deposition and entrainment into the atmosphere. Hence, desert pavements and their future trajectories of change have a strong local to global impact on coupled Earth system components. However, knowledge of the comprehensive role that desert pavements play in the Earth surface–atmosphere system is still limited, and a profound interdisciplinary understanding of their evolution, spatial extent, microbiological processes, and inherent environmental feedback mechanisms is lacking. This article provides an overview of the current state of knowledge of desert pavements as an important Earth system component and offers an interdisciplinary perspective on the key processes interacting within desert pavements, which improves our understanding of the role and importance of desert pavements within the Earth system.

Mineral dust aerosol particles are tiny soil particles mobilized and entrained into the atmosphere by wind. Suspended in the atmosphere and transported away from source regions by prevailing wind systems, dust aerosol alters the Earth’s radiation budget, stimulates cloud and precipitation formation processes, and modulates the carbon cycle as it may enhance bio-productivity due to its mineralogical composition. In the light of the manifold dust feedbacks with relevance to the climate, knowledge on the atmospheric pathway of dust from source to sink is essential for accurate climate simulations. Thereby, the spatio-temporal variability of dust source activity, and consequent dust production and entrainment into the atmosphere is of particular interest as dust emission marks the beginning of the atmospheric dust cycle. Although crucial for the understanding of the climate system, detailed knowledge on the interannual variability of dust source characteristics (i.e., emissivity and their susceptibility to wind erosion) and activity (i.e., occurrence frequency of dust emission events and emission fluxes) is still somewhat limited. In particular the impact of changing environmental conditions on dust sources and their emission variability is not fully understood yet and requires further research. This is also of importance in order to assess the spatially and temporally changing contribution of dust sources to the local and regional atmospheric dust burden and related dust feedbacks. This presentation will provide an overview of different dust source types, their key characteristics, and their response to environmental changes due to climate change with regard to emission flux and dust source activity. It will include examples from remote sensing approaches and dust modelling in order to examine the interannual variability in a changing climate.

The Sahara is the Earth’s largest dust source, producing dust plumes that impact the whole planet. The eastern Mediterranean is one of the areas significantly affected by Saharan dust and its deposition.The geochemical and mineralogical composition of the deposited mineral dust particles depend on their source area and on spatiotemporal variability of the source areas.Although being of great importance for local soil formation and soil distribution, the impact of changes in dust provenance has not been extensively studied in the eastern Mediterranean. Thus, further research is required to characterize dust deposition fluxes, transport trajectories and the geochemical and mineralogical composition of deposited mineral dust.Modelled trajectories of dust events provide good insights on aeolian transport routes, but if larger distances are covered over land, the exact source area of the deposited material cannot be traced with certainty. The question also arises as to whether the composition of the mineral dust deposited differs due to spatial sorting and thus its influence on the deposition area.In order to gain insight into the dynamics of dust deposited on Crete, we present results from eight passive deposition traps (marble samplers) that were installed in western Crete at various sites around the Lefka Ori mountains. Monthly sampling was performed between March 2023 and June 2024, which provides us a unique temporal and spatial coverage.Here we used a multi-proxy fingerprinting approach including Nd-Sr isotopic composition, mineralogy and grain-size distribution. The isotope analyses show a temporal shift in the potential source areas over the year, but no significant spatial differences. This spatial homogeneity in the isotopic signature of deposited dust suggests a minor influence of local inputs, which are characterized by distinct geological contexts, which is confirmed by the mineralogy. Samples with a coarser and well-sorted grain-size distribution likely track larger dust events, as a relatively larger proportion originates from the same source. The aim is to combine the results and thus to highlight and classify the intensity of influence of different source areas on the soil development of western Crete. In the long term, an analysis of back-tracking trajectories is to be carried out and combined with the results of the isotope analyses, which we expect to improve the informative value of the potential source areas.

Mineral dust particles suspended in the atmosphere are transported by atmospheric winds towards remote areas. Thereby, travel distance and time are determined by wind regimes, atmospheric circulation patterns, and dust removal processes (dust deposition). This article presents an overview of dominant atmospheric dust transport routes and deposition areas. It illustrates regional as well as seasonal and interannual variabilities regarding the distribution of mineral dust particles in the atmosphere and provides a summary of dust dry and wet deposition processes as well as their regional predominance.

Vegetation fires have become increasingly recognized as a potential entrainment mechanism for mineral dust. However, the global importance of this emission pathway remains largely unknown. Based on previous LES investigations, we developed a parameterization that relates the dust emission potential of wildfires to observational data of the fire radiative power and further soil‐surface conditions. It was implemented into the aerosol‐climate model ICON‐HAM and simulations with and without the new emission pathway were conducted for the 10‐year period 2004–2013. Fire‐dust emissions can account for around 230 (190–255) Tg yr −1 , which represents around 18 (15–21) % of the total global dust emissions. These additional emissions originate largely from regions that are typically not known as significant sources of mineral dust. Locally, wildfires can enhance the presence of atmospheric dust particles and on the Southern hemisphere might even surpass other forms of dust emission. Highly dust active fire regions are identified in areas where burning grasslands create suitable emission conditions together with emissive soil types despite rather weak fires, for example, in Eastern Europe or the Central US. Fire‐dust emissions are subject to a strong seasonal cycle, mainly driven by the fire activity, following the hemispheric warm and dry seasons. Multi‐year comparisons with (dust) AOD observations revealed improvements due to the additional fire‐dust emissions, particularly in the most fire‐active regions on the Southern hemisphere. Nevertheless, further research and improvements of the parameterization are required to better classify the source areas and their variation with the changing climate and land use conditions.

This study investigates the relationship between lidar-measured intensive optical properties of Saharan dust and simulated hematite content, using data collected during the Joint Aeolus Tropical Atlantic Campaign (JATAC) in 2021 and 2022. Measurements were taken in Mindelo, S & atilde;o Vicente, Cabo Verde. The study aims to determine how changes in hematite content influence the intensive optical properties of dust particles, particularly in the ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrum. Given the well-documented impact of hematite on the absorption properties of dust, especially in the UV-Vis range, our hypothesis is that these effects will be detectable in lidar measurements. Specifically, this study focuses on the lidar ratio, particle depolarization ratio, and backscatter- and extinction-related & Aring;ngstr & ouml;m exponents at 355 and 532 nm wavelengths. By analyzing dust plume cases separately regarding their size differences, the strongest positive correlation was identified between the backscatter-related & Aring;ngstr & ouml;m exponent and hematite fraction (R2=0.63). These findings contribute to improving the representation of dust in atmospheric models, which often overlook the variability in mineralogical composition in their dust descriptions, and refining calculations of its direct radiative effect.

Iceland is a significant high-latitude dust source area. Airborne Icelandic dust influences the climate system by interacting with radiation, clouds, and biogeochemical cycles; it also affects snow and ice albedo and air quality. These impacts are sensitive to the dust's mineralogical, chemical, and physical properties. However, comprehensive measurements and analyses of Icelandic dust particles remain limited. This study examines dust samples collected during a field campaign in the Dyngjusandur desert (August-September 2021) using active and passive aerosol sampling. Over 190 000 individual particles, ranging from 0.1 to 120 mu m, were analyzed for their chemical and physical properties using computer-controlled scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (ccSEM/EDX). Results show heterogeneity in particle size, shape, and composition. The most abundant particle type was medium-Al mixed particles, likely glass-like, comprising 35 %-92 % of the aerosol volume. Sulfate particles, suggesting volcanic contributions, were detected in some samples. Iron (Fe)- and titanium (Ti)-rich particles made up 3.3 % and 6 % of the aerosol volume, respectively, mainly in the size fraction < 1 m. The median aspect ratio ranged from 1.37 to 1.53, increasing with particle size. Our findings highlight key differences in Icelandic dust compared to Saharan dust, including higher iron and titanium content and a lack of potassium in Icelandic dust. Additionally, Icelandic dust shows a size-dependent increase in aspect ratio, unlike Saharan dust, which remains constant. These observations can improve model simulations that account for the effect of high-latitude dust in the Earth system.

Vegetation fires are well known as an important source of aerosol particles originating from the combustion of carbonaceous material. Much less known is that these fires can also efficiently inject soil-dust particles into the atmosphere, raised by the strong fire-induced winds. These soil-dust particles and the likely co-emitted biogenic particles are potent cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nucleating particles (INPs), and can substantially alter the cloud microphysics and thus impact the Earth’s radiation budget. Fires are an integral component of the Earth system that affect different landscapes around the globe. As they are supposed to get more frequent and more severe along with the ongoing global warming, a better knowledge of these specific fire emissions is crucial to understand their impacts on weather and climate.Therefore, this work investigates the potential of wildfires to emit soil-dust particles on a global scale as a part of the newly established Leibniz ScienceCampus “BioSmoke” (‘smoke and bioaerosols in a changing climate’). As this particular dust emission pathway is not considered by the state-of-the-art dust emission models, a parameterization describing fire-induced dust emission fluxes has been developed and implemented into the global aerosol-climate model ICON-HAM. Fire-dust emissions are modelled as a function of the fire radiative power (FRP), the ambient wind conditions, and further soil-surface properties, including the soil type and a vegetation-dependent surface roughness correction.Multi-year ICON-HAM simulations have revealed that fire-related dust emissions can account for up to one fifth of the total global dust emissions with strong regional and seasonal variations, both as the result of a varying fire activity and the local soil-surface conditions that can foster or impede also fire-dust emission significantly. In regions where the classic wind-driven dust emissions from arid, unvegetated soil surfaces are rather low but wildfires occur frequently, e.g., in large parts of the Southern hemisphere, fire-related dust emissions can add substantially to the atmospheric aerosol load and affect the local radiation budget there.