Atmospheric dust can influence biogeochemical cycles, accelerate snowmelt, and affect air, water quality, and human health. Yet, the bulk of atmospherically transported material remains poorly quantified in terms of total mass fluxes and composition. This lack of information stems in part from the challenges associated with measuring dust deposition. Here we report on the design and efficacy of a new dry deposition sampler (Dry Deposition Sampling Unit (DSU)) and method that quantifies the gravitational flux of dust particles. The sampler can be used alone or within existing networks such as those employed by the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP). Because the samplers are deployed sterile and the use of water to remove trapped dust is not required, this method allows for the recovery of unaltered dry material suitable for subsequent chemical and microbiological analyses. The samplers were tested in the laboratory and at 15 field sites in the western United States. With respect to material retention, sampler performance far exceeded commonly used methods. Retrieval efficiency was >97% in all trials and the sampler effectively preserved grain size distributions during wind exposure experiments. Field tests indicated favorable comparisons to dust-on-snow measurement across sites (r² 0.70, p < 0.05) and within sites to co-located aerosol data (r² 0.57–0.99, p < 0.05). The inclusion of dust deposition and composition monitoring into existing networks increases spatial and temporal understanding of the atmospheric transport on materials and substantively furthers knowledge of the effects of dust on terrestrial ecosystems and human exposure to dust and associated deleterious compounds.

大气尘埃会影响生物地球化学循环，加速融雪，并影响空气，水质和人体健康。然而，就总的质量通量和组成而言，大部分大气输送的材料仍然量化较差。信息的缺乏部分源于与测量灰尘沉积有关的挑战。在这里，我们报告了一种新型干式沉积采样器（干式沉积采样单元（DSU））的设计和功效，该方法和方法可量化尘埃颗粒的重力通量。采样器可以单独使用，也可以在现有网络中使用，例如国家大气沉积计划（NADP）使用的网络。由于采样器是无菌部署的，因此不需要使用水清除残留的灰尘，这种方法可以回收未改变的干物质，适用于后续的化学和微生物分析。采样器在美国西部的实验室和15个现场进行了测试。关于材料保留，采样器性能远远超出了常用方法。在所有试验中，检索效率均> 97％，并且采样器在风暴露实验期间有效保留了粒度分布。现场测试表明，与跨站点的雪尘测量相比，这是有利的比较（在所有试验中，有97％的采样器在风暴露实验期间有效地保留了粒度分布。现场测试表明，与跨站点的雪尘测量相比，这是有利的比较（在所有试验中，有97％的采样器在风暴露实验期间有效地保留了粒度分布。现场测试表明，与跨站点的雪尘测量相比，这是有利的比较（r ² 0.70，p  <0.05）和位于同一地点的气溶胶数据（r ² 0.57-0.99，p  <0.05）。在现有网络中纳入粉尘沉积和成分监测，可以增加对空气在物质上的运移的时空理解，从本质上进一步了解粉尘对陆地生态系统以及人类接触粉尘和相关有害化合物的影响。