Dust Storm on Planet Earth

Explanation: From low Earth orbit, NASA's SeaWIFS instrument records ocean color, tracking changes in our water world's climate and biosphere . But even an ocean planet can have dust storms. On February 26th, SeaWIFS returned this dramatic close-up view of a vast, developing cloud of Saharan desert dust blowing from northwest Africa (lower right) a thousand miles or more out over the Atlantic Ocean. While there are indications that the planet-spanning effects of the Saharan dust events include the decline of the ecologies of coral reefs in the Caribbean and an increased frequency of Atlantic hurricanes , there is also evidence that the dust provides nutrients to the Amazonian rain forests . From space-based vantage points , other satellite images have also revealed storms which transport massive quantities of fine sand and dust across Earth's oceans .