La Mancha Plateau, Spain

The area pictured lies on the southeast end of the La Mancha plateau, Spain. The arid but fertile lands are farmed for wheat, barley, oats and olives, among other crops.

Image credit: European Space Imaging / DigitalGlobe

Sahara Irrigation

Amazing colors of the Sahara desert are captured in this photograph taken from onboard the International Space Station. ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst shared this image on Twitter with the comment: "Irrigation in the Sahara Desert looks like a challenging task from up here...".

Alexander Gerst is currently a member of the resident International Space Station Expedition 40 crew. He is spending five and a half months living and working on the ISS for his Blue Dot mission.

Photo credit: ESA/NASA

Palouse, Washington

Located south of Spokane, Washington, the Palouse is a rich farming area of some 7,000 square kilometers, reminiscent of Tuscany. But instead of vineyards, the main crops are wheat and rapeseed. The rolling hills of windblown silt (loess) cover up part of the Columbia Plateau basalt province. The image near Waitsburg was acquired July 24, 2008, covers an area of 27 by 30 km, and is located at 46.3 degrees north, 118.2 degrees west.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Mount Kenya

Mount Kenya, the second-highest mountain in Africa, is pictured in this image from Japan’s ALOS satellite from 25 February 2011.

Standing just above 5000 m, this stratovolcano is one of many volcanoes in the East African Rift, an area where two tectonic plates are moving apart.

The mountain has 11 small glaciers but, like all glaciers on the high mountains of tropical Africa, they are rapidly retreating. Less snow accumulates during the winter than melts in the summer, and there is little to no formation of new ice. According to some predictions, there will no longer be any ice on the mountain in the next three decades.

The area around Mount Kenya is a national park protecting the biodiversity and forming an attractive destination for tourists, making it a key economic resource for the region. The area is home to monkeys, antelopes, elephants and leopards.

The Mount Kenya National Park and its natural forest has been an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.

North of the mountain peak we can see a brown patchwork of fields, and a distinct line where the protected area ends and agriculture begins. In fact, a small portion of the park’s borders have fences and other barriers to keep animals within the reserve and off of the farmland.

In the upper right, there are large patches of light green, which are probably areas of failed agricultural development that now belong to the protected area.

Past threats from commercial tree plantations and other habitat destruction have been alleviated through long-term efforts, including the government’s policy of not converting any more natural forest for plantation development. But some areas that had been cleared but never planted are now colonized by grasses, and are being maintained as open grazing lands, rather than being allowed to revert to natural forest.

This image is featured on the Earth from Space video program.

Image credit: JAXA/ESA

Guitar-Shaped Memorial Forest in Argentina

Located in the fertile agricultural region of Argentina's Pampas is a guitar-shaped forest made up of cypress and eucalyptus trees. An Argentinian farmer planted the forest in memory of his departed wife. The image was acquired November 2, 2007, covers an area of 10.2 by 12.3 km, and is located at 33.9 degrees south, 64 degrees west.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Cento, Italy

Hundreds of fields speckle the northern Italian landscape south of the Po River in this satellite image.

Agriculture is one of the main economic uses of the Po Basin because of the fertile soils, and this image clearly shows a landscape dominated by fields.

Throughout Italy’s history, agricultural landowners would often divide their properties among their male heirs. Generation after generation, land would be further fragmented, resulting in the millions of small plots found across the country today.

Optical satellite imagery like this can be used to monitor agriculture and changing landscapes. Satellites can provide the information necessary to make informed decisions on agricultural management, including yield prediction, irrigation, planting, pricing and regional need for food assistance if a harvest is likely to fail.

At the very bottom of the image, foothills of the Apennine mountains appear dark green.

The city of Bologna is visible in the lower-right corner, and Modena can be seen on the left. Two roads cutting across the flat Po Valley provide a nearly straight route between the cities.

The city of Cento – which means ‘hundred’ in Italian – is located in the upper-right section of the image on the Reno river.

This image, captured by Japan’s ALOS satellite on 4 July 2010, was selected to mark the 100th regular edition of the Earth from Space video program, which we launched in November 2011.

Photo credit: JAXA/ESA

Satellite Shows High Productivity from U.S. Corn Belt

The magnitude of fluorescence portrayed in this visualization prompted researchers to take a closer look at the productivity of the U.S. Corn Belt. The glow represents fluorescence measured from land plants in early July, over a period from 2007 to 2011.

Data from satellite sensors show that during the Northern Hemisphere's growing season, the Midwest region of the United States boasts more photosynthetic activity than any other spot on Earth, according to NASA and university scientists.

Healthy plants convert light to energy via photosynthesis, but chlorophyll also emits a fraction of absorbed light as a fluorescent glow that is invisible to the naked eye. The magnitude of the glow is an excellent indicator of the amount of photosynthesis, or gross productivity, of plants in a given region.

Research in 2013, led by Joanna Joiner of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, demonstrated that fluorescence from plants could be teased out from existing data from satellites that were designed and built for other purposes. The new research, led by Luis Guanter of the Freie Universität Berlin, used the data for the first time to estimate photosynthesis from agriculture. Results were published March 25 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

According to co-author Christian Frankenberg of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., "The paper shows that fluorescence is a much better proxy for agricultural productivity than anything we've had before. This can go a long way regarding monitoring -- and maybe even predicting -- regional crop yields."

Guanter, Joiner and Frankenberg launched their collaboration at a 2012 workshop, hosted by the Keck Institute for Space Studies at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, to explore measurements of photosynthesis from space. The team noticed that on an annual basis, the tropics are the most active in photosynthesis. But during the Northern Hemisphere's growing season, the U.S. Corn Belt "really stands out," Frankenberg said. "Areas all over the world are not as productive as this area."

The researchers set out to describe the phenomenon observed by carefully interpreting data from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment 2 (GOME-2) on Metop-A, a European meteorological satellite. Data showed that fluorescence from the U.S. Corn Belt peaks in July at levels 40 percent greater than those observed in the Amazon.

Comparison with ground-based measurements from carbon flux towers and yield statistics confirmed the results.

"The match between ground-based measurements and satellite measurements was a pleasant surprise," said Joiner, a co-author on the paper.

Ground-based measurements have a resolution of about 0.4 square mile (1 square kilometer), while the satellite measurements currently have a resolution of more than 1,158 square miles (3,000 square kilometers). The study confirms that even with coarse resolution, the satellite method could estimate the photosynthetic activity occurring inside plants at the molecular level for areas with relatively homogenous vegetation like the Corn Belt.

Challenges remain in estimating the productivity of fragmented agricultural areas not properly sampled by current space-borne instruments. That's where missions with better resolution could help, such as NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) -- a mission planned for launch in July 2014 that will also measure solar-induced fluorescence.

The research could also help scientists improve the computer models that simulate Earth's carbon cycle, as Guanter found a strong underestimation of crop photosynthesis in models. The analysis revealed that carbon cycle models -- which scientists use to understand how carbon cycles through the ocean, land and atmosphere over time -- underestimate the productivity of the U.S. Corn Belt by 40 to 60 percent.

Unlike most vegetation, food crops are managed to maximize productivity. They usually have access to abundant nutrients and are irrigated. The U.S. Corn Belt, for example, receives water from the Mississippi River. Accounting for the region's irrigation is currently a challenge for models, which is one reason why they underestimate agricultural productivity.

"If we don't take into account irrigation and other human influences in the agricultural areas, we're not going to correctly estimate the amount of carbon taken up by vegetation, particularly corn," Joiner said. "Corn plants are very productive in terms of assimilating carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This needs to be accounted for going forward in trying to predict how much of the atmospheric carbon dioxide will be taken up by crops in a changing climate."

According to Frankenberg, the remote sensing-based techniques now available could be a powerful monitoring tool for food security, especially data from OCO-2 in combination with data from other upcoming satellites such as NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), scheduled for launch later this year.

Image credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Southwest Iran

This colorful radar composite image shows changes in large-scale agricultural plots in southwest Iran.

The individual images were acquired by the radar on Japan’s ALOS satellite on 16 November, 16 May and 1 October 2010. Combined, the different colors show changes in the fields – such as harvesting at different points on time.

The most prominent fields in this image each measure about 1 km across. To the lower right, the smaller structures are ponds for aquaculture. Important fish for inland fisheries include carp, roach and mullet.

Running through the center of the image is the Karun River. It is the country’s only navigable river, originating in the Zagros mountains and running its 720 km course southwest and into the Shatt al-Arab river, which then flows into the Persian Gulf.

Clusters of bright white radar reflections indicate the presence of buildings and other human-made structures, such as those seen in the middle of the blocks of fields and along the river.

On the center-right side of the image, we can also see dots of white, evenly dispersed in a single row east-to-west. These are reflections from towers holding power lines. While these structures are difficult to spot in optical imagery – like the satellite images on Google Earth – their reflectivity makes them more visible to radar.

This image is featured on the Earth from Space video program.

Image credit: JAXA/ESA

Drought Near Sacramento, California

California's severe drought has been particularly devastating to farmers in the Central Valley. Three consecutive years of below-normal rainfall have resulted in the most serious drought emergency in decades. Because California leads the nation in agricultural production and exports, the cost of food, including dairy products and meat, is increasing. Over an area southwest of Sacramento, the effect can be clearly seen in these two February images acquired in 2014 and 2003 by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft. Vegetation is depicted in shades of red, while barren fields are dark brown and gray. The left image was acquired on February 11, 2014 by Landsat 8, and the right image was acquired 11 years earlier, on February 8, 2003. The great increase of barren fields, and the bare hills in the southwest corner, are readily apparent. The images cover an area of 7.4 by 13.5 miles (12 by 21.7 kilometers), and are located at 38.9 degrees north, 121.8 degrees west.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Cairo and the Nile River

This night-time image of the Nile River running into the delta that ends in the Mediterranean Sea clearly shows Egypt’s capital city, Cairo, and its satellite cities. The image taken by an astronaut on the International Space Station shows how humans have colonized our planet over the ages.

To the left is 6th of October City that was established in 1979. The modern city reveals itself by the squarer lines compared to the more organic Cairo that evolved over thousands of years of human settlement. The regular block of light above and to the right of 6th of October City is Sheikh Zayed City, established in 1995.

To the right of Cairo are even newer settlements, the aptly named New Cairo City houses many universities and lies in the desert further away from the resource-rich Nile river. These satellite cities attract people away from the densely populated Cairo.

To the North (top-right in this picture) lie the agricultural fields that rely on water from the Nile River. Interspersed at crossroads are smaller cities and villages that give off the distinctive yellow glow of human settlements at night.

Photo credit: ESA/NASA

Zambezi River, Zambia

This image from Envisat’s radar shows the Zambezi River’s floodplain in western Zambia.

The city of Mongu appears as a cluster of white radar reflections on the right side of the image. It is about 15 km from the river’s main channel – which appears light green, snaking down the left side of the image – but during the wet season, the waters rise right up to the edge of the town.

This image is a compilation of three acquisitions from Envisat’s radar. Each acquisition is assigned a color, and when combined show changes between the acquisitions.

The individual images were acquired on 1 March, during the wet season, 27 September and 26 December, when water levels were low, all during 2011. Combined, the psychedelic array of colors reveal how drastically the floodplain changes between seasons.

As the second largest wetland in Zambia, the Zambezi floodplain is a major spawning ground for fish. With about 80 different fish species, it serves as a source of livelihood to the local people, along with harvesting of other wetland resources like reeds and sedges for handicraft, and rice cultivation.

But this area is threatened by unsustainable fishing, animal poaching and the dredging of canals.

The Zambezi floodplains is just one of the over 2000 sites worldwide considered to be wetlands of international importance by the Ramsar Convention – an intergovernmental treaty for the sustainable use of wetlands. World Wetlands Day is observed on 2 February, the anniversary of the signing of the Convention.

ESA assists the Ramsar Convention through the GlobWetland project and the TIGER initiative ‘Looking After Water in Africa’, which provide satellite data to be used to monitor these precious resources.

This image is featured in the Earth from Space video program.

Image credit: ESA

Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

This false-color image from Japan’s ALOS satellite was acquired over part of southern Kenya and the border with Tanzania.

Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania can be seen in the lower-left corner. At 5895 m above sea level, this dormant volcano is Africa’s highest mountain.

Kilimanjaro is a critical water catchment area for both Kenya and Tanzania, but over the past century more than 80% of its ice cover – which acts as a water storage – has disappeared. The receding ice cap together with deforestation have caused several rivers to dry up, affecting forests and farmland below.

In this image, bright red areas show the rich vegetation of the forested area on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, as well as vegetation of the agricultural areas and along rivers and streams.

False color allows for better discrimination between different vegetation types. This is particularly helpful when satellite data are used in agricultural monitoring for mapping and classifying land use, crop type, crop health, change detection, irrigated landscape mapping and crop area mapping.

The upper section of the image is dominated by plains in southern Kenya. Nearby are a number of national parks (not shown) that attract tourists looking to see the wildlife. Animals found in this area include elephants, cape buffalo, lion, giraffe, zebra and wildebeest, among many others.

This image, also featured in the Earth from Space video program, was acquired on 20 March 2009.

Image credit: JAXA/ESA

Libya's Al-Jawf Oasis

Deep in the Sahara Desert, the Al Jawf oasis in southeastern Libya is pictured in this image from Japan’s ALOS satellite. The city can be seen in in the upper left corner, while large, irrigated agricultural plots appear like Braille across the image. Between the city and the plots we can see the two parallel runways of the Kufra Airport. The agricultural plots reach up to a kilometer in diameter. Their circular shapes were created by a central-pivot irrigation system, where a long water pipe rotates around a well at the center of each plot. Since the area receives virtually no rainfall, fossil water is pumped from deep underground for irrigation.

Japan’s Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) captured this image on 24 January 2011 with its Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer type-2, which charts land cover and vegetation in the visible and near-infrared spectral bands at a resolution of 10 m. ESA supports ALOS as a Third Party Mission, which means ESA uses its multi-mission ground systems to acquire, process, distribute and archive data from the satellite to its user community.

This image is featured on the Earth from Space video program.

Photo credit: JAXA, ESA

The Brazil-Bolivia Border

The river-delineated border between western Brazil's Acre province (upper left), and northwestern Bolivia's Pando Department (lower right), demarcates a remarkable difference in land use and development practices. Brazil has opened up this part of the rain forest to farming and settlement, producing the herringbone pattern of forest cutting. This part of Bolivia, on the other hand, preserves its native rain forest, untouched by development. The image was acquired July 2, 2008, covers an area of 42 by 45 km, and is located at 10.3 degrees south latitude, 67.2 degrees west longitude.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Wasco, California

Wasco, California advertises itself as the "Rose Capital of the World," producing 55% of the rose bushes sold in the United States. Located in the central San Joaquin Valley, Wasco attracted rose producers in the 1960s, when southern California fields were sold for housing developments. Today, over 8000 acres are devoted to cultivation of existing and new varieties of roses, shipped to every state in the US and all over the world. The image covers an area of 10.4 x 15.8 km, was acquired July 10, 2011, and is located near 35.6 degrees north latitude, 119.3 degrees west longitude.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Po River, Italy

This image is a compilation of three radar images from the Japanese ALOS satellite and shows the Po River, which flows over 650 km from west to east across northern Italy as the country’s longest river. Agriculture is one of the main economic uses of the Po Basin because of the fertile soils, and this image clearly shows a landscape dominated by fields. Branching off of the river in the center of the image and snaking through the landscape to the lower-right corner is the Po di Goro, one of the main channels of the Po Delta. The section of the main river pictured and the Po di Goro form the border of the Italy’s Veneto (north) and Emilia–Romagna (south) regions.

This image is featured on the Earth from Space video program.

Image credit: JAXA/ESA

Chernozem Cropland

This ALOS satellite image shows an area with extensive agricultural use in western Russia, with roads and rivers cutting through the cropland. This area, part of Russia’s Black Earth Region, is about 400 km directly south of Moscow. Many grains are grown here, such as winter wheat and rye.

This image is a compilation of three passes by the Japanese Advanced Land Observation Satellite’s radar on 14 June 2009, 14 September 2009 and 2 August 2010. Each image at the different recording date is assigned a color (red, green or blue) and combined to produce this representation. The colors reveal changes in the surface between the satellite’s passes.

Photo credit: JAXA, ESA

Drought in Kansas: 2012 vs 2002

As the U.S. Midwest continues to suffer from near-historic drought conditions, farmers in southwestern Kansas are among the hardest hit. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the area is under "exceptional drought" conditions. This has led to significant reductions of the corn, soybean and pea crops. The two satellite images shown here, obtained about 10 years apart, clearly illustrate the effects of the drought. The top half of this image was acquired on September 6, 2012 by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft; the bottom half of the image was acquired by the Landsat Thematic Mapper on September 15, 2002. Vegetation appears in red, and bare fields are gray or greenish in color. Both images cover an area of 9.3 by 27.9 miles (15 by 44.5 kilometers) and are located near 38.2 degrees north latitude, 100.8 degrees west longitude.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

The Wadi As-Sirhan Basin

Tapping into fossil ground water, Saudi Arabia has been steadily developing agricultural fields using center pivot irrigation. A remarkable example is in the Wadi As-Sirhan Basin in northwest Saudi Arabia. In the 1984 Landsat image (top), no fields are yet present. By 2000, ASTER showed extensive farming activity (middle); vegetation is bright red. And by 2011, the ASTER image shows several areas where wall-to-wall fields were developed, each about 1 km in diameter (bottom). The images cover an area of 19.5 x 33 km, and are located at 30.5 degrees north latitude, 38 degrees east longitude.

Photo credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

The Paraná River

The Paraná River cuts through this image of southern Brazil, acquired by the MERIS instrument on Envisat on 19 March. In the area pictured, the river marks the borders of the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso do Sul to the north and west, São Paulo to the east and Paraná to the south.

Agricultural structures are evident in the surrounding land. Near the center of the image, smoke from a fire was captured blowing southwest from its source.

Photo credit: ESA