18 April 2012
Fig. 1
Dust cloud over the Atlantic Ocean
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC.
In early March 2012, Saharan dust blowing off the west coast of Africa concentrated into a thick, narrow plume that blew northward over the Atlantic Ocean. On 11 March, NASA’s Terra satellite acquired Fig. 1, a natural-color image, showing the wonderful dust storm.
The river of dust drifting northward over the Atlantic was at the same latitude as the Iberian Peninsula, only hundreds of kilometers to the west. Apparently, shifting winds west of Africa channeled the dust northward, and concentrated it into the narrow plume.
References
NASA Earth Observatory
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=77416
Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem
Senior Astronomy Specialist