Earth from Space - Image Description

STS102-303-17 Aswan High Dam, Egypt
The Aswan High Dam was completed in 1970 and is one of the largest earthen embankment dams in the world. It is 364 feet (111 m) tall, 12 565 feet (3830 m) long and nearly 3281 feet (1000 m) wide. When it was built the new reservoir required relocation of nearly 100 000 residents and some archaeological sites. Although the reservoir has benefited Egypt by providing power and controlling floods, it has also had detrimental effects on the Nile system. Before the dam, an estimated 110 million tons of silt was deposited by the annual flood of the Nile, enriching agricultural lands and maintaining the land of the Nile delta. Now this sediment is trapped behind the dam, requiring artificial fertilization of agricultural lands and leading to erosion and saltwater intrusion where the Nile river meets the Mediterranean Sea.

This service is provided by the International Space Station program and the JSC Earth Science & Remote Sensing Unit, ARES Division, Exploration Integration Science Directorate.