Earth from Space - Image Information


LOCATION Direction Photo #: ISS041-E-78334 Date: Oct. 2014
Geographic Region: MALI
Feature: NIGER INLAND DELTA, NIGER RIVER, SAHARA


IMAGE
 
Inland delta of the Niger River, Mali

Apart from the delta of the Nile River, the inland delta of the Niger River (image top left) may be Africa's most famous. Crew members aboard the International Space Station took this east-looking view of the region where the Niger and other rivers flow out of the wetter, more vegetated Sahel (left side of the image), into the Sahara Desert (right side of the image). The rivers inundate the lush green wetland of the delta (image top left).

For millennia the river has been the most important water supply for life in the western Sahara Desert. After tracing an irregular path through a series of linear dunes (image center left) the river makes its way to the ancient city of Timbuktu (image lower center), and many other cities further downstream. Even the arrow-shaped, 100 km depression known as Lake Faguibine--scoured out by desert winds to levels a few meters below that of the Niger delta--is still regularly flooded by water from the Niger, allowing crops to be grown on the lake floor as the water recedes.

In the millions of years during which the Niger has brought water and sediment into the desert, the delta has repeatedly changed. The remnant of an older delta (image top left) can still be seen, especially where flows from the Niger due north to make a smaller dark green vegetation wetland near the top of the image.


Images: All Available Images Low-Resolution 96k
Mission: ISS041  
Roll - Frame: E - 78334
Geographical Name: MALI  
Features: NIGER INLAND DELTA, NIGER RIVER, SAHARA  
Center Lat x Lon: 16.0N x 5W
Film Exposure:   N=Normal exposure, U=Under exposed, O=Over exposed, F=out of Focus
Percentage of Cloud Cover-CLDP: 10
 
Camera:: N5
 
Camera Tilt: 54   LO=Low Oblique, HO=High Oblique, NV=Near Vertical
Camera Focal Length: 28  
 
Nadir to Photo Center Direction: W   The direction from the nadir to the center point, N=North, S=South, E=East, W=West
Stereo?:   Y=Yes there is an adjacent picture of the same area, N=No there isn't
Orbit Number:  
 
Date: 20141017   YYYYMMDD
Time: 132513   GMT HHMMSS
Nadir Lat: 17.2N  
Latitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Nadir Lon: 0.1W  
Longitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Sun Azimuth: 225   Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point
Space Craft Altitude: 223   nautical miles
Sun Elevation: 54   Angle in degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point
Land Views: DESERT  
Water Views: DELTA, LAKE, RIVER  
Atmosphere Views:  
Man Made Views:  
City Views:  

Photo is not associated with any sequences


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