Earth from Space - Image Information


LOCATION Direction Photo #: STS062-110-AA Date: Mar. 1994
Geographic Region: SAUDI ARABIA
Feature: AN NAFUD, PIVOT AGRICULTURE


IMAGE
 
STS062-110-0AA Irrigated Agriculture, Saudi Arabia March 1994
During the last two decades, the Saudi Arabia Government has invested in making the country self-sufficient in food production. As a result, widespread drilling for water increased, producing crop surpluses. This low-oblique, panoramic photograph shows a large area northwest of the capital of Riyadh, where the Saudis have converted nonvegetated desert land into thousands of circular, center-pivot-irrigated, cultivated fields. These irrigated fields vary in size from hundreds of yards (hundreds of meters) to more than a mile (2 kilometers) in diameter. This photograph shows a gradual arc that extends in a swath from south-southwest of Riyadh to the An Nafud (red desert) in northwest Saudi Arabia where center-pivot irrigation has transformed the desert into productive farmland. This drilling activity has been extremely costly, and the underground water supply (fossil water) is proving to be a one-time-only, nonrenewable resource. In the short term, the country has benefited by increasing its food production for internal consumption; however, because of a finite subsurface water supply, some scientific forecasters predict that in the near future the Saudi Arabian desert agriculture may revert to the original, nonvegetated desert environment.


Images: All Available Images Low-Resolution 129k
Mission: STS062  
Roll - Frame: 110 - AA
Geographical Name: SAUDI ARABIA  
Features: AN NAFUD, PIVOT AGRICULTURE  
Center Lat x Lon: 26.5N x 42.5E
Film Exposure: N   N=Normal exposure, U=Under exposed, O=Over exposed, F=out of Focus
Percentage of Cloud Cover-CLDP: 5
 
Camera:: HB
 
Camera Tilt:   LO=Low Oblique, HO=High Oblique, NV=Near Vertical
Camera Focal Length: 250  
 
Nadir to Photo Center Direction:   The direction from the nadir to the center point, N=North, S=South, E=East, W=West
Stereo?: Y   Y=Yes there is an adjacent picture of the same area, N=No there isn't
Orbit Number:  
 
Date: 199403__   YYYYMMDD
Time:   GMT HHMMSS
Nadir Lat: N  
Latitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Nadir Lon: E  
Longitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Sun Azimuth:   Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point
Space Craft Altitude:   nautical miles
Sun Elevation:   Angle in degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point
Land Views: DESERT, HILL, DUNE  
Water Views:  
Atmosphere Views:  
Man Made Views: PIVOT IRRIGATION, AGRICULTURE  
City Views:  

Associated Photos in Sequence:

IMAGEPhoto #: STS032-96-32
Description: SAUDI ARABIA, NAFUD-1990; CHANGING DESERT PIVOT IRRIGATION PATTERNS
Sequence ID: 8A

IMAGEPhoto #: STS060-97-38
Description: SAUDI ARABIA, NAFUD-1/94; CHANGING DESERT PIVOT IRRIGATION PATTERNS
Sequence ID: 8B

IMAGEPhoto #: STS062-110-AA ** Currently displayed photo **
Description: SAUDI ARABIA, NAFUD-3/94; CHANGING DESERT PIVOT IRRIGATION PATTERNS
Sequence ID: 8C



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