Northern half of Mauritania's Atlantic Coast from Skylab

SL4-138-3756 (28 Dec. 1973) --- The northern half of Mauritania's Atlantic Coast, as photographed from the Skylab space station in Earth orbit by one of the Skylab 4 crewmen. The camera used was a hand-held 70mm Hasselblad, with SO-368 medium-speed Ektachrome. Spanish Sahara is just out of the picture to the north. The linear chains of sand dunes leading to the sea were the objects of study in an effort to better understand deserts and their formations. Photographs such as this were compared with similar ones taken over the drought-stricken areas including Mali and Niger in an attempt to understand the desertification processes which may be occurring there. Photo credit: NASA