Orbital View: Saharan Dust Clouds Reach the Americas

Via NASA's Terra satellite: Dust from the Sahara is so light, westward breezes can pick up countless grains of sand and lift them straight over the ocean. From this image taken by astronauts on the space shuttle Columbia, the dust shows up as haze in the atmosphere moving slowly toward the Dominican Republic. It can take up to a week to make the full journey.

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http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/09/orbital-view-saharan-dust-clouds-reach-the-americas/262672/