The final raw data set consists of five years of hourly dust concentration
values along with a five-year record of hourly meteorological
measurements. Combined, these data provide a fairly
detailed record of dust concentration and associated climatic conditions
from January 1, 2003, to January 1, 2008.
An annual summary of climatic conditions and dust levels is
presented in Table 1. For each calendar year, approximately 8760
hourly values were averaged to obtain a single annual average value
of dust concentration. Similarly, annual values of climatic factors
such as wind speed, relative humidity, and rainfall were computed
for each of the five years. These results suggest that 2003 had the
overall highest annual dust concentration of 78 mg/m3 whereas the
second highest annual average of 54 mg/m3 was measured in 2006.
The lowest annual dust concentration of 41 mg/m3 was measured in
2007. Overall annual dust concentration values remained within a
range of 41e78 mg/m3
, which is only slightly higher than the range