The Nile, Egypt - related image preview

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The Nile, Egypt

Flowing northward for over 6,500 kilometers (4,039 miles), the Nile is the longest river in the world. The Nile makes life in a desert possible, and is used to irrigate farmland and even support a fishing industry.Lake Nassar (swollen spot in the river) is a reservoir held back by the Aswan Dam, and its fishing industry produces thousands of tons of fish each year.Like the major dam projects along the Colorado River in the western United States, the numerous dams along the Nile allow water storage and irrigation that support farming in a larger region, which would otherwise be mostly desert. Also like the Colorado, this has come at an environmental cost. Habitat loss for animals and plants as well as loss of fertile soil previously deposited in annual floods are major problems for the region. These images were acquired on October 30, 2001, and June 12, 2002, and show the Nile is southern Egypt.


Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Published June 19, 2002
Data acquired June 12 - 12, 2002

Source:
Terra > MODIS
Topics:
Biosphere > Terrestrial Ecosystems > Deserts
Biosphere > Terrestrial Habitat > Desert
Hydrosphere > Surface Water > Floods
Collections:
MODIS Rapid Response
Visible Earth