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
A weather forecast for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on January 31, 2008, called for high winds and the possibility of dust storms. Two days later, the predictions came to pass—with a vengeance.
Acquired April 22, 2010, this natural-color image shows a dust plume spanning hundreds of kilometers in western Africa. A wall of dust appears to advance toward the southeast in Burkina Faso and Niger.