This Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences, under the Geosciences federal grant program (CFDA 47.050), provides $480,039 to Texas Tech University from January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2025. The funding will support creation of the first national database cataloging dust events across the United States over the past 20 years, to advance understanding of their spatial and temporal distributions, meteorological causes, and impacts. Using multiple tools including weather maps, satellite imagery and radar, the research team will identify each dust event and the conditions initiating it. Comparison of meteorological measurements during and preceding dust events, along with climate indices, will improve knowledge of their variability and links to drought. The database could enhance understanding of dust impacts on climate processes, air quality and human health, and potentially inform prediction methods and a national dust alert system.