Earth from Space - Image Description

STS090-714-047 Rio Guadaquivir, Spain April 1998
The linear but winding Rio Guadaquivir, helps identify this section of Spain's southwest coast that borders the Gulf of Cadiz. A variety of land use patterns are visible in this complex-looking landscape immediately southwest of Sevilla (just off the lower left edge of the image). Agricultural field patterns that occupy much of the landscape vary in size from large, angular shapes (probably wheat and barley fields) to small, mottled-looking patterns (fruit groves) primarily along the southeast side of the Rio Guadaquivir. This area of coastal plains, where water is available for irrigation, supports a variety of agricultural activities. Much of the area north of the river was at one time very swampy and undeveloped but reclamation efforts to transform the original marshlands into productive agricultural fields have been largely successful (although swampy areas still exist). In addition to the land use information about this image, some of the near shore water dynamics, including a sediment plume entering the Gulf of Cadre at the mouth of the Rio Guadaquivir can also be discerned.

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