R.A. Berner’s scientific contributions

... No increase in ion concentration was noted during the beginning of the winter season, and thus, as also found by Nativ and Mazor (1987) and Burg (1998), one may conclude that dust particles within the atmosphere are merely a result of episodic dust storms rather than a gradual build-up. This is not surprising owing to the fact that the average residence time of vapour in the air is 7-10 days (Berner & Berner, 1987;Junge, 1963), while that of a cloud is only several hours (Pruppacher, 1973). This was supported by the fact that no significant relationship was found between the rain TDI and the time that has elapsed between successive rain events. ...

Reference:

Essential nutritional ions show enrichment (K + , Mg 2+ ) and depletion (NO 3 À ) in runoff water generated by biocrusts covering arid sand dunes under natural rain conditions