Summer storms and accompanying warm air can lift dust as high as 15,000 feet above the African deserts, and then out across the Atlantic. Reef inhabitants produce a profusion of color in the Caribbean. When a brain coral expels the symbiotic algal cells that give it color, it is bleached like this coral. Coral bleaching is associated with warm water conditions, especially during the years of maximum dust transport. However, dust alone has not been proven to cause coral bleaching.
African dust contains spores of a fungus that can be destructive to sea fans.
This sea fan has suffered damage from a fungal infection. The bromeliad plant family includes many epiphytic species that grow on other plants and derive moisture and nutrients from the air. African dust supplies soil for epiphytic plants living in the tree canopy. SeaWiFS and TOMS data products are distributed through the Goddard Space Flight Center . Landsat data products are available through the EROS Data Center .