Over the last week, a large, thick plume of dust was blowing off the Sahara Desert and out over the Atlantic Ocean. So thick in some places it almost completely obscures the surface, the worst of the dust storm appears be to skirting south of the Cape Verde Islands.

This Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image was captured by Terra satellite on May 1, 2003. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS? maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters.

Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC