Massive sandstorm blowing from Africa's Sahara desert seen from space

Sand and dust from the Sahara desert are highly responsible for fertilising several parts of global oceans and the world's landmasses. New satellite pictures have now captured the Saharan dust in action.
A thick plume of sand and dust from the Sahara Desert is seen in these images blowing from the west coast of Africa across the Atlantic Ocean.
The images were captured during multiple observations from Copernicus Sentinel-3 and Copernicus Sentinel-5P on May 7, 2025.
The images show a dense, orange plume of Saharan sand over approximately 1,50,000 sq km of the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Sandstorms can be a major contributor to reduced air quality and can cause hazards to human health. (Photo: ESA)
Sandstorms, which are common over the Sahara, occur when large amounts of dust particles from the desert are swept up by strong winds. They can float for days or even weeks, depending on how dry, fast and turbulent the air masses become.
The satellite images also reveal the concentration of aerosols in the dust plume: darker tones of orange denote denser aerosol concentrations.
The image was captured by the Sentinel-5P which carries the state-of-the-art Tropomi instrument that maps a multitude of trace gases and can measure the aerosol index, which is an indicator of the presence and intensity of aerosols such as dust.
"This combination of Sentinel-3 and -5P satellite imagery allows scientists to improve their understanding of these massive dust clouds, and forecasters to provide better air quality predictions. These data are extremely important for air-quality models," the European Space Agency, said in a statement. The images show a dense, orange plume of Saharan sand. (Photo ESA)
The team said that sandstorms can be a major contributor to reduced air quality and can cause hazards to human health.
"The suspended particles, in fact, cause hazy skies, trigger air quality alerts and, when breathed, can lead to cardiovascular conditions and lung problems. The travelling Saharan dust plays an important role in our ecosystem. It is a major source of minerals and nutrients for phytoplankton and for ecosystems on the other side of the world, including the Amazon rainforest," ESA added.

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