New research suggests that the dunes are an important source of dust now and potentially in the future. Researchers used the Portable in situ Wind Erosion Laboratory (PI-SWERL) to measure the potential of dunes in the deserts of northern China to emit dust. Large, mobile dunes emit low levels of dust, but vegetated coppice dunes have the greatest potential to emit dust in the future if climate change and drought destabilizes those dunes.