Heart-Shaped Oasis in Egypt Has Supported Human Life for More Than 8,000 Years

Could 25, 2021

Whereas in orbit over Egypt, an astronaut on the Worldwide House Station (ISS) captured a photograph of this heart-shaped basin bordering the Nile River and the Western Desert. The melancholy, generally known as the Faiyum Oasis, spreads throughout greater than 1,200 sq. kilometers (450 sq. miles) and was fashioned from the traditional lakebed of Lake Moeris.

Partial damming of Lake Moeris throughout the reign of Ptolemy II allowed massive areas of fertile alluvial soil to be reclaimed for agriculture. At the moment saltwater Lake Qarun (Birket Qarun), positioned on the northern margin of the melancholy, is the remnant of Moeris. The salinity of Lake Qarun is brought on by excessive evaporation charges within the arid local weather.

Farms and orchards fill the melancholy and line the western banks of the Nile. The quite a few small grey patches are villages and cities within the intensively cultivated agricultural areas. The world has supported human life for greater than 8,000 years and offers sources to many chicken and fish species, in addition to the endangered slender horned gazelle.

Bahr Yussef, which connects the Nile to the Faiyum Oasis, initially fashioned as a pure offshoot of the river. In 2300 BC, it was widened and deepened right into a canal to assist regulate stream to the oasis. The canal transports freshwater and sediment to the realm earlier than emptying into Lake Qarun.

Astronaut photograph ISS065-E-66742 was acquired on Could 25, 2021, with a Nikon D5 digital digital camera utilizing a focal size of 100 millimeters. It's offered by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Distant Sensing Unit, Johnson House Middle. The picture was taken by a member of the Expedition 65 crew. The picture has been cropped and enhanced to enhance distinction, and lens artifacts have been eliminated. The Worldwide House Station Program helps the laboratory as a part of the ISS Nationwide Lab to assist astronauts take photos of Earth that will likely be of the best worth to scientists and the general public, and to make these pictures freely out there on the Web. Caption by Sara Schmidt, GeoControl Techniques, JETS Contract at NASA-JSC.