DUSHANBE, October 5, 2011, Asia-Plus -- Flights to and from Dushanbe were canceled on Wednesday due to a heavy curtain of dust over the city.    

Dushanbe International Airport failed to receive flights from Moscow (Russia), Sharjah (the United Arab Emirates) and Almaty (Kazakhstan) and the aircraft operating those flights landed at the airport in Khujand, the capital of the northern Sughd province.  “As a soon the weather conditions improve, all the stranded passengers will be carried to Dushanbe,” the Dushanbe airport’s press center said.

“The weather will probably clear up tomorrow and air traffic control in Dushanbe will give the flights the green light,” the source said.

A dust storm is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions.  Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dust from a dry surface.  Particles are transported by saltation and suspension, causing soil erosion from one place and deposition in another.  The Sahara and drylands around the Arabian Peninsula are the main terrestrial sources of airborne dust, with some contributions from Iran, Pakistan and India into the Arabian Sea, and China''s significant storms deposit dust in the Pacific.

It has been argued that recently, poor management of the Earth''s drylands, such as neglecting the fallow system, are increasing dust storms from desert margins and changing both the local and global climate, and also impacting local economies.