Dust Storm Off the Coast of Western Africa

Dust Storm Off the Coast of Western Africa

The Sahara, one of the world’s most prolific dust producers, kicked up another storm on July 19, 2005. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flying onboard the Aqua satellite captured this image of the west coast of Africa.

In this image, the dust storm, several hundred kilometers across, blows off the coasts of (from top to bottom) Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. Clouds also float over the Atlantic. The white clouds are at an elevation higher than the dust storm, and the yellowish clouds are either below or at the same elevation as the dust.

NASA image created by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response team.