@nasagoddard

This conveyor belt is a little bigger than the one in your local grocery store! Spanning 61 miles along the western edge of the Sahara, the belt helps transport phosphorous across the world. Phosphorous is an important element often used in commercial fertilizers. According to @USGS, this Saharan region contains an estimated 70 percent of all known phosphate rock on the planet and produces nearly 38 million metric tons of phosphate rock annually. That’s about 17% of all global production! Image Description: Satellite image of the western edge of Africa and the Sahara Desert, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. The desert is a mostly flat expanse of tan with dark blue ocean. A white line cuts across the image diagonally upwards, starting near the middle of the image and ending where the land meets the ocean in the left hand corner. The area is whiter than the sand elsewhere in the image. #Earth #Space #NASA #Desert #SeenFromSpace

February 04, 2023