STS052-80-061 - STS-052 - Lake Chad, Chad, Africa

The original finding aid described this as:

Description: Hydrologic and ecologic changes in the Lake Chad Basin are shown in this October 1992 photograph. In space photo documentation, Lake Chad was at its greatest area extent (25, 000 sq. km) during Gemini 9 in June 1966 (see S66-38444). Its reduction during the severe droughts from 1968 to 1974 was first noted during Skylab (1973-1974). After the drought began again in 1982, the lake reached its minimum extent (1, 450 sq. km) in Space Shuttle photographs taken in 1984 and 1985. In this STS-52 photograph, Lake Chad has begun to recover. The area of the open water and interdunal impoundments in the southern basin (the Chari River Basin) is estimated to be 1900 to 2100 sq. km. Note the green vegetation in the valley of the K'Yobe flow has wetted the northern lake basin for the first time in several years. There is evidence of biomass burning south of the K'Yobe Delta and in the vegetated interdunal areas near the dike in the center of the lake. Also note the dark ``Green Line`` of the Sahel ( the grass-brush biome that runs across Africa south of the Sahara Desert). Mature thunderstorms and squall lines of the African Intertropical Front (ITF) are visible south of the lake.

Subject Terms: STS-52, COLUMBIA (ORBITER), EARTH OBSERVATIONS (FROM SPACE), AFRICA, CHAD, DESERTS, EARTH LIMB, LAKES, RIVERS

Date Taken: 4/28/1999

Categories: Crew Activities

Interior_Exterior: Exterior

Ground_Orbit: On-orbit

Original: Film - 70MM CT

Preservation File Format: TIFF

geon: NIGERIA

feat: LAKE CHAD

lat: 13

lon: 14

tilt: High Oblique

cldp: 5
STS-52