Minute-scale convective dust events are overlooked in urban air quality monitoring

Convective dust events pose a health threat as they impact urban air quality, but traditional air quality monitoring methods do not always capture them. Although the impact of these convective dust events is important, they are still poorly understood. Limitations of temporal and spatial observations have an impact on the understanding of their impact on urban air quality. Many urban locations prone to these convective dust events do not have any reference sensors or have a limited number. And these reference sensors are based on hourly measurements, which mask the impact of these convective dust events. This perspective will provide insight into these short-duration convective dust events and their impact on the urban environment, using two locations. Highlighting the uncertainties and the suggestions to solve them using dense networks of low-cost sensors, which will help improve and understand the true impacts of these convective dust events on urban air quality. Very short-lived convective dust events in urban areas are not always captured by traditional air quality monitoring in the USA; finer temporal scale measurements are needed to avoid health risks being overlooked