ESA - Observing the Earth - Benefiting Our Economy - Space-borne sensors help Africa tackle water shortage problems

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Space-borne sensors help Africa tackle water shortage problems

3 August 2007

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The narrow, man-made Lake Kariba, located along the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe, as seen by Envisat. Lake Kariba was created in the late 1950s by the construction of a largest dam wall across the Zambezi River running through the Kariba Gorge. Today Lake Kariba is one of the largest dams in the world, with a surface area of 5580 square kilometres and an average depth of 29 metres, increasing to a maximum of 97 metres. It is 220 km long and in places up to 40 kilometres wide. The Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) acquired this image on 6 June 2005, operating in Full Resolution mode with a spatial resolution of 300 metres. It covers an area of 672 by 672 kilometres.

Credits: ESA

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Land cover map of Zambia created as part of the IWAREMA (Integrated Water Resource management for Zambia) project. The land cover change maps will help the government look at past trends in terms of deforestation, reclaimed land and new settlement areas to determine the long term affect and implement corrective measures.

Credits: GIM

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Water resources map of Zambia created using data from ESA’s multispectral MERIS sensor aboard Envisat, as part of the IWAREMA (Integrated Water Resource management for Zambia) project, funded through ESA’s Data User Element and initiated under ESA’s TIGER initiative. Water and wetlands areas are featured in blue.

Credits: GIM