Saharan dust over Cape Verde Islands

  • Credit

    Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Dust storms from the Sahara Desert blow out over the Atlantic Ocean, obscuring the Cape Verde Islands, in these images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite captured during the summer and fall of 2002, as well as early 2003. Dust transport can have positive and negative consequences. On the one hand, it can bring minerals and nutrients from the soil to marine ecosystems. On the other hand, it can carry viruses and fungi that decimate corals as far away as the Caribbean.

Metadata

  • Sensor

    Terra/MODIS

  • Visualization Date

    2002-08-30