Earth from House: São Francisco River, Brazil

This Copernicus Sentinel-2 picture highlights a part of the São Francisco River in japanese Brazil.

With a course of 2914 km, the São Francisco is the fourth largest river system in South America and the most important river situated wholly in Brazil. It’s also generally referred to as the “river of nationwide unity” as a result of its basin extends throughout a number of Brazilian states.

Rising 730 m above sea degree within the southwestern state of Minas Gerais, the river flows northerly to the state of Bahia. It then flows to the Atlantic Ocean, the place it empties between the states of Alagoas and Sergipe. A number of hydroelectric crops alongside the river’s course present energy all through northeastern Brazil.

The picture reveals in mild blue the course of the river in northern Bahia, the place it kinds the in depth Sobradinho Reservoir. A mixture of sediment, decomposing crops and the presence of algae and microorganisms give the water its vivid hue.

Masking an space of about 4200 sq km, Sobradinho is among the largest synthetic lakes on the earth, and may maintain greater than 34 billion cubic metres of water, though its water degree varies with seasonal adjustments.

This false-colour picture has been processed utilizing Sentinel-2’s near-infrared channel, which highlights vegetation in crimson and helps us higher distinguish between areas with vegetation and areas with out.

We are able to see the place vegetation has been cleared away for logging, farming and land cultivation. Cities, roads and agricultural fields seem in numerous shades of brown.

A particular function on this picture is the world of circles on the backside centre. These had been created by a central-pivot irrigation system, the place an extended water pipe rotates round a nicely on the centre of every plot. The various colors present several types of crop, or completely different levels of progress.

Copernicus Sentinel-2 is designed to observe altering lands, together with crop kind and well being. The mission’s frequent revisits over the identical space and excessive spatial decision additionally allow shut monitoring of adjustments in inland water our bodies.