The increased moisture and plant-life stabilized the ground and minimized dust plumes. Then began the African Humid Period, during which the vast expanse of desert was speckled with lakes, vegetation and human habitation. The peak of Saharan dust transport to the eastern side of the Americas took place roughly between 12,000 to 17,000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age. Geological records going back thousands of years help reveal past precipitation and nutrient levels as the Sahara went through dramatic environmental shifts. The researchers were also interested in seeing if the relationship between global average temperature and Saharan dust activity occurred in the past. Recent dust estimates are derived from data collected by NASA satellite missions, including Terra, Aqua, and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO), a joint mission between NASA and the French space agency, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales. 'In fact, it can change quite a bit, from month to month, day to day, year to year, even decade to decade.' 'From ground observations and satellite observations, we see African dust variability,' said Tianle Yuan, atmospheric scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Supported by NASA's Modeling, Analysis, and Prediction (MAP) Program, and Radiation Sciences Program, the scientists used their new understanding of these relationships to forecast a more substantial reduction in dust activity than previous studies had predicted based on anticipated climate warming. These start with temperature differences between the North and South Atlantic, which then impact the region's consistent east to west winds as well as a tropical band of relatively high rainfall located near the Equator, both of which impact the annual dust plumes.

Recent NASA research outlines the domino-like connections between factors beyond the desert's borders and the development of dust plumes. Upwards of 60 million tons of its nutrient-laden mineral dust are lifted into the atmosphere each year, creating a massive layer of hot, dusty air that winds carry across the Atlantic to deliver those nutrients to the ocean and vegetation in South America and the Caribbean. The Sahara Desert is 3,600,000 square miles (9,200,000 square kilometers) of arid land stretched across the northern half of Africa, coming in just slightly smaller in size than the continental United States. While this eye-catching plume made headlines, NASA scientists, using a combination of satellite data and computer models, predict that Africa's annual dust plumes will actually shrink to a 20,000-year minimum over the next century as a result of climate change and ocean warming. In June 2020, a 'Godzilla' dust plume traveled from the Sahara, the planet's largest, hottest desert, across the Atlantic ocean to North America.

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