Over Africa, the dust laden area is associated with the African heat low - this low pressure system is strongest in the Summer and is associated with strong surface heating. Circulation in the heat low tends to trap the dust. If you search for Africa heat low dust you will find a number of publications on the topic. The evolution of the heat low and the dust within it is an active area of current research.

Thank you for your reply.  Has anyone from Leeds studying the dust over Africa given the cloud(s) official names?    I am suggesting the "North Africa" Dust Cloud family?  Does that sound OK?

Well, dust cloud events are related with regional winds. For instance, the term "Calima" is a spanish term related with the visibility reduction at Canary and Madeira islands due to dust clouds  that comes from Sahara. Also the term "Sirocco" is used to identify dusty and dry winds from north Africa that reaches Europe.

Thank you for your reply.  Now that we have satellite images of the Dust Clouds  themselves, and see that they are physical entities that  occupy certain places, like the Pakistan-Arabia Dust Cloud, I was wondering if anyone had given them official names to the Clouds themselves, in addition to the names of the winds that drive them?

Vinoj et al. (2014) have shown that desert dust aerosols over the Arabian Sea and West Asia can affect the Indian summer monsoon. Few recent studies also have shown that aerosols from anthropogenic and natural sources over the Indian subcontinent may affect the transition from break to active monsoon phases (Manoj et al. 2011; Hazra et al. 2013) on short timescales of days to weeks.

You may see the following papers.

 Vinoj, V. et al. Short-term modulation of Indian summer monsoon rainfall by West Asian dustNature Geosci. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2107 (2014).

Lau William, (2014), Desert dust and monsoon rain, Nature Geoscience, 7, 255–256.

Hazra, A., Goswami, B. N. & Chen, J-P. (2013) Role of interactions between aerosol radiative effect, dynamics, and cloud microphysics on transitions of monsoon intraseasonal oscillations. J. Atmos. Sci. 70, 2073–2087.

Manoj, M. G., Devara, P. C. S., Safai, P. D. & Goswami, B. N. Clim. Dyn. 37, 2181–2198 (2011).

Thank you for your reply.  Could you please ask other researchers at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology if the provisional names I have suggested could be assigned when discussing these dust clouds, the "Pakistan-Arabia" Dust Cloud and the "North Africa" family of Dust Clouds?  And what is your opinion?

I am also asking about tracing back the rain-cloud producing Pseudomonas bacteria to their countries and host plants of origin, at https://www.researchgate.net/post/Anyone_tracing_rain-cloud_producing_Pseudomonas_back_to_host_plants_and_countries_of_origin?

Also, this week we can watch the interaction of the Dust Cloud with the cyclone Hudhud, which is predicted to hit the edge of the cloud in central India in a few days, but there is a possibility of the Cloud stalling or trapping the cyclone, and if fed more moisture from the Super Cyclone in the East, may cause a lot of problems at the Hudhud/Dust Cloud interface.  

These tremendous Cyclone-Dust Cloud battles can show us how powerful the Dust Cloud really is, when the Dust Cloud always wins against the cyclones. 

Today, October 10, Hudhud is turning to the east, and I am posting my predicted storm track, which is very different than the other computer storm tracks, when I am adding the effect of the Dust Cloud plus the hot ocean water around Bangladesh, may cause Hudhud to run along the India coastline and hit Bangladesh full force? 

Update of Hudhud Oct. 12--the cyclone eye did not move to the north or east, but many of the rain clouds did, when the Dust Cloud formed a wall and pocket and stalled the cyclone from moving westward. The leading edge of the Dust Cloud is acting like a cheese grater, shaving off the energy of the cyclone. Since the leading edge of the Dust Cloud is holding its ground against the cyclone, western India will probably not see much rainfall, wherever the Dust Cloud persists.

To view the battle,  where the cyclone HUDHUD lost against the Dust Cloud, go to the Colorado State web page at http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/products/tc_realtime/archive.asp?product=16kmgwvp&storm_identifier=IO032014 and watch the foot of the Dust Cloud squash the cyclone like stepping on an egg.