A group of scientists and graduate students from the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration's Center for Atmospheric Sciences (NCAS), which is lead by Howard University, are aboard the NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown, tracing the impact of dust from the Saharan Desert as it heads west across the Atlantic Ocean. A key goal of the cruise is to gather measurements to better understand effects the traveling Saharan dust aerosols have on the atmosphere and Atlantic Ocean.

The cruise began on February 29, leaving Bridgetown, Barbados, and will wrap up March 26 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The research cruise is following a route in the Atlantic that will give the scientists the best chance to track the dust and study its effects.

The AEROSE research cruise has a website that features a daily log of observations from the scientists:http://orbit35i.nesdis.noaa.gov/orad/sar/oceansar/AEROSE2004/