The Nile River

Credit: Image credit: Jacques Descloitres; MODIS team; NASA, Posted on: Wednesday, 25 August 2004, 06:00 CDT Download full size image

The Aqua MODIS instrument captured this true-color image of the Nile River during its peak summer green in mid July, 2004. The Nile, officially the world's longest river at over 4,160 miles (nearly 7,000 km), drains one tenth of the African continent, including parts of ten countries. Practically all of Egypt's agriculture survives on the Nile's water and rich silt, which is deposited anew every year during the river's flood. The river flows north to empty into the Mediterranean Sea. At the junction of the river and the sea sits the Nile River Delta, which is coincidentally shaped like a lotus flower, Egypt's national emblem and a symbol sacred to the civilization that flourished here for thousands of years. Near the apex of the Delta is Cairo, modern Egypt's capital and an ancient city in its own right. It appears as a grey-brown spot on the eastern side of the delta, next to the Eastern Desert.

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