Toshka Project, Egypt

In southern Egypt, the sandy desert has turned into a lakes region. Beginning in 1998, lakes quickly appeared and almost as quickly disappeared from Egypt’s Sahara Desert. Then, in late 2019, they appeared again. Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellites captured these remarkable changes.

These images also show the progress of the Toshka Project. Originally intended to relocate millions of Egyptians from overcrowded cities into a “New Nile Valley,” the project includes plans for hundreds of thousands of hectares of irrigated farmland. Like the lakes that formed in this region, this irrigation project relies upon water from the Nile River.

Imagery

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Dec. 8 and 15, 1989, Landsat 4 (path/row 175,176/44) — Toshka Lakes, Egypt

Aug. 19 and 26, 2001, Landsat 7 (path/row 175,176/44) — Toshka Lakes, Egypt

Aug. 19 and 28, 2013, Landsat 8 (path/row 175,176/44) — Toshka Lakes, Egypt

Aug. 23 and 30, 2017, Landsat 8 (path/row 175,176/44) — Toshka Lakes, Egypt

July 3 and 12, 2019, Landsat 8 (path/row 175,176/44) — Toshka Lakes, Egypt

Nov. 24, 2019, and Dec. 3, 2019, Landsat 8 (path/row 175,176/44) — Toshka Lakes, Egypt

Mar. 11 and 18, 2021, Landsat 8 (path/row 175,176/44) — Toshka Lakes, Egypt

Nov. 22 and 29, 2021, Landsat 8 (path/row 175,176/44) — Toshka Lakes, Egypt

Feb. 9, 10, 2022, Landsat 9, 8 (path/row 176,175/44) — Toshka Lakes, Egypt

Feb. 12, 13, 2023, Landsat 9, 8 (path/row 176,175/44) — Toshka Lakes, Egypt

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Wilkinson, J., and Schmidt, S., 2022, Two Decades of Change at Toshka Lakes: NASA Earth Observatory, accessed February 24, 2022, at https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/149334/two-decades-of-change-at-toshka-lakes.