File:Saharan Dust over the Atlantic (MODIS).jpg

English: Since mid-February 2023, massive pulses of dust have poured off the west coast of Africa, coloring the skies with a tan haze.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite captured a true-color image of dust stretching more than 2,000 km (1,200 miles) over the coastal countries (Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone) to the open waters of the Atlantic. The dust is so thick in the west that it obscures the blue waters of the Atlantic from view.

According to the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS), the first large-scale Saharan dust transport of 2023 took place in mid-February, with dust concentrations across the Iberian Peninsula rising on February 20. The report, published on February 21, forecast that Saharan dust would reach as far north as Denmark by February 23. Daily MODIS imagery confirms dust not only pulsing northward to Europe during that time, but also reaching across the North Atlantic Ocean, closely approaching the shores of South America.

The Sahara Desert is by far Earth’s largest source of airborne dust, and the storms can arise at any time of year. It is estimated that winds pick up 100 million tons of dust from the Sahara each year, with a sizable portion blowing out over the North Atlantic Ocean. During winter and spring storms, the dust often ends up fertilizing the nutrient-poor soils of South America’s Amazon rainforest.