Wadi As-Sirhan Basin,
Saudi Arabia
Over the last thirty years, Saudi
Arabia has drilled its soil in search of a resource far more precious than oil:
water. The Wadi as-Sirhan Basin's engineers and farmers have used little-known
reservoirs to farm grains, fruits, and vegetables in the Saudi desert.
This artificially colored series of
images taken in 1987, 1991, 2000, and 2012 shows farming's evolution in the
basin. Recently planted surfaces are in green, dry vegetation and fallow land
are rust-colored, and dry and bare surfaces (principally desert) are pink and
yellow.
No one knows how much water lies under
the desert; estimates vary from 60 to 208 cubic miles. Hydrologists have stated
that, from an economic perspective, it will only be realistic to pump this
resource for a period of fifty years.
The original link and other earth images can be found at:
http://discovermagazine.com/galleries/2013/nov/earth-from-space
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