Return to Earth From Space Home
Earth from Space logo Image Information Earth from Space logo

Display a Screen Layout for Printing

IMAGE: gray corner       IMAGE: gray corner
  Image: Geographic Location Direction Photo #: STS077-718-54 Date: May 1996
Geographic Region: EGYPT
Feature: NILE RIVER & DELTA, AGR.

Ordering information for space photography
 
IMAGE: gray corner     IMAGE: gray corner

Image: gray corner     Image: gray corner
  View Low-Resolution Image  
  STS077-718-054 Nile River Delta, Egypt May 1996
The great Nile River Delta, seen in this south-southeast-looking, low-oblique photograph, is the prototype for all other deltas. Early geographers, reminded of the Greek letter delta when noting its roughly triangular shape, named it accordingly. The delta stretches approximately 100 miles (160 kilometers) north and south and 150 miles (240 kilometers) west and east. Beginning at Cairo, the delta disperses the Nile's water into the Mediterranean Sea through a fan-shaped network of shallow channels. Two barely discernible rivers, the Rosetta (Rashîd) to the west and the Damietta (Dumyât) to the east, each approximately 150 miles (240 kilometers) long, carry most of the water to the sea. The thick layers of silt carried downstream for thousands of years provide the Nile Delta with the most fertile soil in Africa. With the completion of the Aswan High Dam in 1971, the delta's normal evolution has been disrupted--sediment that formerly reached the lower river valley is now halted by Lake Nasser, resulting in salt water from the Mediterranean seeping into parts of the delta; nutrients formerly carried downstream have been reduced, thereby depleting the population of some fish species in the Nile and the eastern Mediterranean. Visible are the Suez Canal and the Nile River Valley, east and south, respectively, of the delta.
 
Image: gray corner     Image: gray corner

Images: All Available Images Low-Resolution 88k
Mission: STS077  
Roll - Frame: 718 - 54
Geographical Name: EGYPT  
Features: NILE RIVER & DELTA, AGR.  
Center Lat x Lon: 31.0N x 31.0E
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: 32   LO=Low Oblique, HO=High Oblique, NV=Near Vertical
Camera Focal Length: 40  
 
Nadir to Photo Center Direction: SW   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: 31  
 
Date: 19960521   YYYYMMDD
Time: 075509   GMT HHMMSS
Nadir Lat: 32.4N  
Latitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Nadir Lon: 31.8E  
Longitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Sun Azimuth: 108   Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point
Space Craft Altitude: 153   nautical miles
Sun Elevation: 62   Angle in degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point
Land Views: COAST, DESERT  
Water Views: RIVER, DELTA, CANAL  
Atmosphere Views:  
Man Made Views: AGRICULTURE  
City Views:  
Photo is not associated with any sequences


NASA
Home Page
JSC
Home Page
JSC Digital
Image Collection
Earth Science &
Remote Sensing

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