 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Ubari And Murzuq Sand Seas Of Libya
Paris (ESA) Mar 29, 2005 This Envisat image shows two huge sand dune seas in the Fezzan region of southwestern Libya, close to the border with Algeria. Most of the face of the Sahara desert stretching across Northern Africa is bare stone and pebbles rather than sand dunes, but there are exceptions � sprawling sea of multi-storey sand dunes known as 'ergs'. The Erg Ubari (also called Awbari) is the reddish sand sea towards the top of the image. A dark outcrop of Nubian sandstone separates the Erg Ubari sand from the Erg Murzuq (also called Murzuk) further south. A persistent high-pressure zone centred over Libya keeps the centre of the Sahara completely arid for years at a time, but research has discovered evidence of 'paleolakes' in this region associated with a wetter and more fertile past. Libya today has no permanent rivers or water bodies, but has various vast fossil aquifers. These natural underground basins hold enormous amounts of fresh water. Two decades ago an ambitious project called Great Man-Made River was begun, aimed at drawing water from the aquifers beneath the Fezzan region shown in the image, via a network of underground pipes for irrigation in the coastal belt. Upon completion the huge network of pipelines will extend to about 3,380 km. Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS), working in Full Resolution mode to provide a spatial resolution of 300 metres, acquired this image on 24 November 2004. It has a width of 672 kilometres. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Envisat overview SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express Earth Observation News - Suppiliers, Technology and Application
New Legislation Initiated To Support Commercial Remote Sensing Industry
New York NY (SPX) Jan 11, 2006The importance of remotely sensed data and technologies to support natural disasters has prompted attention and action in Washington. New initiatives and legislation authorizing appropriations to the remote sensing industry will be discussed at Strategic Research Institute's U.S. Commercial Remote Sensing Industry conference, scheduled for February 9-10, 2006 in Washington D.C. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
