The study of desert dust, its entrainment, transport and deposition is an area of growing importance in investigations of global environmental change because dust storms have great significance for the physical environment and the world’s human inhabitants. Most dust events are generated by the erosion of surface materials in the world’s drylands. Dry, unprotected sediments in any environment can be blown into the atmosphere, but the main sources of soil-derived mineral dust are located in desert regions. However, the impacts of wind-blown desert dust are global in their extent, making their study an area of major concern in Earth System Science. This article investigate the nature of dust storms, atmospheric events that are typically associated with deserts and discusses the common methods in dust studies.