This picture could resemble the floor of Mars, but it surely was really captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission, revealing the beautiful terrain of northwest Namibia.
Zoom in to discover this picture at its full 10 m decision or click on on the circles to be taught extra.
The world pictured right here contains a part of the Kunene and Erongo areas, two of Namibia’s 13 areas. The Ugab River, seen as a winding, white line chopping by means of the centre of the picture, clearly marks the border between Kunene (to the north) and Erongo.
This false-colour picture was taken in April 2024 and Copernicus Sentinel-2’s near-infrared channel was used to focus on the sparse vegetation of this extraordinarily arid, desert panorama. Pink patches of vegetation are discernible alongside the Ugab’s major course.
The Ugab is ephemeral, solely flowing above the floor of its sandy mattress a couple of days every year. Nonetheless, its subterranean water serves as an essential useful resource for various wildlife, together with the uncommon desert elephant.
Namibia is famend not just for its spectacular panorama, but additionally for providing clues to the historical past of tectonic plate motion on this a part of Africa.
A number of important geological options dominate this picture.
The round, gentle brown formation on the appropriate stands out from the encompassing aircraft; it’s the Brandberg Massif, a granite mountain and, reaching 2500 m, one of many highest factors in Namibia. It originated in the course of the Early Cretaceous rifting that led to the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean.
Within the Ugab River valley, the spectacular outcrop seen in shades of blue is the Zerrissene turbidite system, comprising folded, sedimentary rocks and spanning almost 2700 sq km.
The ring-shaped rim of the Messum Crater could be seen within the backside centre of the picture. Opposite to its look, the crater was not fashioned by a meteorite or asteroid impression, slightly it’s a part of a collapsed volcano. With a diameter of greater than 20 km, it consists of two concentric circles of hills surrounding a large, flat basin.
Human presence within the space is minimal. Straight, white traces chopping throughout the panorama are roads, a delicate reminder that this area just isn’t solely unpopulated.
