Sailors from Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate USS Vandegrift assist in the rescue of a family with a sick infant via the ship's small boat as part of a joint U.S. Navy, Coast Guard and California Air National Guard rescue effort in the Pacific Ocean. U.S. Navy via Reuters.
A. Dust bunnies form from the surprisingly large supply of stuff in the air, including fibers from clothing fabrics and carpeting; hair; animal fur and dander; and especially human skin cells and the dust mites that feed on them, according to Joseph Laquatra Jr., professor of design and environmental analysis at the College of Human Ecology at Cornell.
Sandstorms -- also called duststorms -- are caused by strong winds blowing over loose soil or sand, and picking up so much of that material that visibility is greatly reduced. The widespread abundance of loose sand in deserts makes them the most common locations for sandstorms to form. In desert regions at certain times of the year, sandstorms become more frequent because the strong heating of the air over the desert causes the lower atmosphere to become unstable. This instability mixes strong winds in the middle troposphere downward to the surface, producing stronger winds at the surface.