Earth from Space - Image Information


LOCATION Direction Photo #: ISS061-E-21164 Date: Oct. 2019
Geographic Region: SUDAN
Feature: WHITE NILE, RABAK, BLUE NILE


 
A Pair of Niles and Deltas

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) took this oblique photograph showing a swath of southeastern Sudan near Ethiopia. The White Nile River snakes diagonally across the frame, splitting the tan and brown tones of the arid Sahara Desert from the wetter, greener Sahel.

The White Nile carries sediment from its source region in central Africa. The sediment can make the water appear light-toned in comparison to the clearer water of the Blue Nile, which carries less sediment. The two rivers join to form the River Nile at a confluence near the city of Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.

High annual rainfall associated with the Ethiopian Plateau and its foothills (top right) supplies the Blue Nile with large quantities of water; in the rainy season it amounts to nearly 70 percent of the water in the River Nile north of the confluence. The Blue Nile makes irrigation possible on 400,000 hectares (one million acres) of land, partly for the cultivation of cotton.

The irrigated zone south of Khartoum (north is to the left) is the inland delta of the Blue Nile, a wide area of soft river sediment laid down by the river. The photo also includes the inland delta generated by a tributary of the White Nile.

Inland deltas are roughly triangular, delta-shaped plains of sediment deposited over thousands of years, but without the influence of a body of water like "true" deltas. Inland deltas are often termed megafans to show this difference. The inland deltas along the Nile have been ideal locations for cultivation not only because of the water supply, but also because they are topographically flat and therefore easily plowed and irrigated.



Images: All Available Images Low-Resolution 112k
Mission: ISS061  
Roll - Frame: E - 21164
Geographical Name: SUDAN  
Features: WHITE NILE, RABAK, BLUE NILE  
Center Lat x Lon: 13.5N x 32.5E
Film Exposure:   N=Normal exposure, U=Under exposed, O=Over exposed, F=out of Focus
Percentage of Cloud Cover-CLDP: 10
 
Camera:: N8
 
Camera Tilt: 51   LO=Low Oblique, HO=High Oblique, NV=Near Vertical
Camera Focal Length: 50  
 
Nadir to Photo Center Direction: E   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: 20191029   YYYYMMDD
Time: 103831   GMT HHMMSS
Nadir Lat: 13.1N  
Latitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Nadir Lon: 28.0E  
Longitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Sun Azimuth: 204   Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point
Space Craft Altitude: 222   nautical miles
Sun Elevation: 61   Angle in degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point
Land Views: DESERT, PLATEAU  
Water Views: DELTA, RIVER, SEDIMENT  
Atmosphere Views:  
Man Made Views:  
City Views: KHARTOUM  

Photo is not associated with any sequences


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