Introduction: A joint Soviet-American experiment for the study of Asian desert dust and its impact on local meteorological conditions and climate

Data were successfully obtained from an experiment during dust storms on 16 and 20 September 1989, in the Kafirnigan Valley, Tadzhik S.S.R. (Tadzhikistan). The principal purposes of the experiment were to provide data sets for modeling radiation transfer, as modified by desert dust, and to specify transport, modification, and deposition of a desert dust system. The experiment provided data for investigations of four problem areas concerning climatic effects of desert dust: (1) speciication of dust-producing source areas and meteorology, (2) specification of dust microphysics, (3) description of optical and climate effects of the desert dust, including local meteorological conditions, and (4) description of chemical composition of the desert dust.