Saharan Dust over Canary Islands

Dust and Haze

Dust Blankets Tashkent

Meteorologists in Uzbekistan reported airborne levels of dust as high as they have been in 150 years of monitoring.

Image of the Day Atmosphere Dust and Haze

Saharan Dust Heading for Europe

A substantial dust plume drifted over the Atlantic Ocean, with some of the airborne grains steering toward the northeast.

Image of the Day Land Dust and Haze

Dust Storm off Western Sahara

Dust and Haze

A Dusty Journey

Satellite observations show how far winds normally spread North African dust particles before rain and gravity pull them down to the ocean.

Image of the Day Atmosphere Water Remote Sensing

Saharan Dust over the Canary Islands

Dust and Haze

Dust Storm off West Africa

Dust and Haze

A Dust Plume to Remember

While dust routinely blows across the Atlantic Ocean, scientists rarely see plumes as large and dense with particles as the one that darkened Caribbean skies in June 2020.

Image of the Day Atmosphere Dust and Haze Remote Sensing

Tracking Dust Across the Atlantic

Dust storms in mid-summer 2013 spanned the Atlantic Ocean, depositing particles in the Americas and perhaps suppressing hurricanes.

Image of the Day Atmosphere

Central Africa Dust Storm

This image was taken from the International Space Station on March 8, 2004, from a position about 1400 kilometers off the coast of Mauritania (about 600 kilometers west of the Cape Verde Islands). Looking northwest, this image shows the dusty Saharan airmass in the lower third of the view, with clear air beyond a marked northeast-trending boundary. The dust, which originated in Central Africa, is blowing west southwest, parallel to the front—a common trajectory during northern winters.

Atmosphere Land Dust and Haze