Richat Structure, Mauritania
November 13, 2004
The ever-shifting sands of the Sahara desert cover a large section of Mauritania. They all but obscure the remarkable Guelb Richat or Richat structure, although its heart remains clear like a bulls-eye in the middle of this Envisat image. The 50-km-diameter circular Richat structure is one of those geological features that are more clearly observed from space than from down on the ground, with this 'eye of Africa' a familiar landmark to astronauts since the earliest manned missions. Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) acquired this image.
Topics:
Richat Structure, Geography of Mauritania, Structural geology, Imaging spectrometer, MERIS, Envisat, Spectrometers, Mauritania, Sahara, European Space Agency
