Earth from space: Egyptian crop circles

Hi, I’m Mariangela D’Acunto and welcome back to ESA’s Earth from Space programme. In this edition, we take a look at the agricultural development in the Western Desert of Egypt. Egypt is over 95% desert, making a very small proportion of its land suitable for agriculture. As the demand for food grows, the need for agricultural development in desert areas has intensified. Captured in March 2019, this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image shows an important land reclamation project in East Oweinat, in the Western Desert of Egypt. The circular shapes, each approximately 800 metres wide, indicate the irrigation method used here, with water being supplied by a set of sprinklers rotating around a central pivot. Fossil water, stored underground for thousands of years, comes from the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer, the largest known fossil aquifer discovered. The water in this area is low in salt content, making it ideal for cultivation purposes. Crops such as wheat, potatoes and barley are grown here, and are exported through the Sharq El Owainat Airport, visible in the right side. Changes over the last 21 years are clearly visible in this long-time series of over 150 images captured by the US Landsat mission between January 1998 and January 2019. The comparison highlights how this agricultural project has developed, with more fields being added over the years. Other subtle changes within the fields can also be seen. Another interesting feature is the drifting sand dunes visible mainly in the upper left corner, which is a phenomena common in sandy deserts with constant winds. Long-time series of datasets are needed to determine changes in our planet’s climate so it is vital that satellite data and other Earth science data are preserved for future generations and are still accessible and usable after many years. And this brings us to the end of this edition. I’m Mariangela D’Acunto. Thanks for watching and see you next week.

Channel: European Space Agency, ESA

Views: 60,545

Keywords: Agriculture, Deserts, Earth observation, Earth views (taken by satellites ), Water, Sentinel-2, Copernicus, Landsat, Egypt, ESA, European Space Agency, Space, Universe, Cosmos, Space Science, Science, Space Technology, Tech, Technology, Earth from Space, Observing the Earth, Earth Observation, Earth Explorer, Satellite image, Sentinel

Id: CWXqMLBLrZc

Length: 2min 51sec (171 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 05 2019