The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us on the Brazilian-Bolivian border over a part of the Pantanal area, a novel ecosystem, dwelling to a powerful number of crops and wildlife.
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Masking an space of as much as 200 000 sq km, the Pantanal is the biggest floodplain on the planet and a wetland of international importance. It’s primarily positioned inside the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, however it additionally extends into Bolivia and Paraguay.
This picture from September 2025 captures a small fraction of the Pantanal, which straddles the border between Bolivia to the west, and the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso to the north and Mato Grosso do Sul to the east. A fancy mosaic of flooded grasslands, savannas, tropical forests, rivers and human settlements are seen within the picture.
The darkish inexperienced hall slicing vertically via the centre is dense, ‘riparian’ vegetation – which is discovered alongside the floodplain channels and everlasting wetlands. In distinction, the encompassing savannas are seen in brown.
The Pantanal acts as an infinite inner delta, the place a number of rivers merge, feeding the huge community of wetlands. The Rio Paraguay, seen meandering throughout the inexperienced lush band, is a very powerful river in Pantanal as its pure flood cycle creates the area’s distinctive atmosphere and helps its numerous fauna.
Following the riverbed southwards, we will see some city buildings. The biggest to the west is the Brazilian metropolis of Corumbá, which serves as a gateway to Pantanal. Its rectangular grid is surrounded to the south by a patchwork of fields and brownish pastures.
The reddish-brown areas are expanses of cracked clay soil, that are uncovered through the dry season. These areas, barren in September when this picture was acquired, grow to be inexperienced through the moist season from November to April.
The 2 conurbations seen west of Corumbá are the inland ports of Puerto Suarez and Puerto Quijarro, on the Bolivian aspect of the border. The sunshine brown patches on the left signify savanna and forest cleared for cattle pastures and ranches. The skinny strips of land are most probably cultivated soybean fields.
This area has undergone vital deforestation lately, with some areas reworked from dense forest right into a mosaic of fields.
