NASA To Explore Birthplace of Canes

that it, and university researchers, are flying to the west coast of Africa to analyze the African Monsoon. The mission is called "NAMMA."

Tropical storms moving off the left coast of the continent often form into tropical systems that affect the United States, so it's important to know under what conditions they form. And their formation is affected, believe it or not by the Sahara Desert (remember: raindrops form on dust particles).

Sometimes the dry air hurts tropical systems too -- that is what will happen this weekend:

Although recon flights will gather most of the data, Doppler radar at the home base (the Cape Verde Islands) and on the African continent, as well as the satellites we talked about yesterday, will be integral parts of the arsenal. Real-time satellite and radar animations are already available (though some were password-protected as of this writing).

And, of course, staying at the Riu is always fun.