Saharan Dust over the Atlantic

A large plume of African dust and smoke blew out over the Atlantic Ocean on Feb. 11, 2002, some of which appeared to be heading for Europe.

Fierce winds ripped across the Sahara Desert this past weekend and blew a large plume of dust out over the Atlantic Ocean. This true-color image of the dust event was acquired on February 11, 2002, by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), flying aboard NASA’s Terra spacecraft. The light brown dust trail can be seen forming an arc a few hundred miles off the coast of Western Sahara and Mauritania. Northeasterly winds blowing across the Atlantic have redirected the dust towards Europe where it will likely settle.

Metadata

  • Sensor

    Terra/MODIS

  • Start Date

    2002-02-11

  • Event Start Date

    2002-02-11

  • NH Image ID

    1621

  • NH Event ID

    1614

  • NH Posting Date

    2002-02-12