Saharan dust hovered over the Atlantic for several days in mid-January 2008. This image shows two different areas of dust plume activity. Immediately off the coasts of Western Sahara and Mauritania, a series of tan dust plumes blow in predominantly straight lines toward the northwest. Farther west, a large, diffuse plume of dust hangs over the Atlantic Ocean
Published Jan 25, 2008
Acquired August 11, 2011, this natural-color image shows a dust plume spanning several hundred kilometers off the west coast of Africa.
Published Aug 11, 2011
A thick plume of dust blew off the coast of Mauritania in western Africa on October 2, 2007. In this image, the dust varies in color from nearly white to medium tan. The dust plume is easier to see over the dark background of the ocean, but the plume stretches across the land surface to the east, as well.
Published Oct 4, 2007
The dust that blew toward Cyprus from the coast of Turkey on the previous day stretched and thinned on August 26, 2008.
Published Aug 27, 2008
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.
Published Jun 29, 2020
In June 2014, winds pushed a river of dust from western Africa across the Atlantic Ocean.
Published Jul 5, 2014
Satellite observations show how far winds normally spread North African dust particles before rain and gravity pull them down to the ocean.
Published Jan 9, 2020
This true-color image shows a large plume of tan dust off the coast of Senegal, east of Cape Verde, on July 19, 2009.
Published Jul 20, 2009
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