December 17, 2020 - Morocco and Mauritania

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   Morocco and Mauritania
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   Soft orange and tan Saharan sands sweep across the arid lands of
   Mauritania and southern Morocco. The vast expanses of sand are framed
   by mountains and exposed rocky plateaus, all creating the image of a
   desert landscape, where dry climate conditions and periodic drought
   creates difficult living conditions. Most of the population in this
   region lives along the coastline of the Atlantic Ocean, where
   conditions are more favorable than in the interior.

   The most striking inland feature is the rugged exposed rock of the
   Adrar Plateau, a raised central massif with cliffs that rise to roughly
   800 feet (240 m). Extremely arid in the highlands, the region at the
   base of the plateau holds enough moisture to support date-palm groves.
   In some areas, crops such as millet, sorghum, melons and vegetables can
   be grown. One of the most recognizable features of Mauritania is the
   Richat Structure, an uplifted dome that appears something like a sliced
   onion from space, with several concentric circles made of igneous and
   sedimentary rock. The Richat Structure can be seen near the upper right
   edge of this image.

   The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board
   NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image centered on
   Mauritania on December 15, 2020. Much of the region in the northwestern
   edge of the image is contested land, where the boundary between Morocco
   (north) and Mauritania (inland and south), is in dispute. In addition,
   the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) claims part of this area as
   its independent territory. The disputed area sits on the northwest
   coast of Africa and bordered by Morocco, Mauritania, and Algeria. It
   has been designated as Western Sahara, a non-self-governing territory.
   According to the CIA World Factbook, when Spain withdrew from its
   former colony of Spanish Sahara in 1976, Morocco annexed the northern
   two-thirds of Western Sahara and claimed the rest of the territory in
   1979, following Mauritania’s withdrawal. A war with the Polisaro Front,
   which founded the SADR, over Morocco’s claim to sovereignty ended in a
   1991 cease fire. However, a referendum on independence or integration
   into Morocco has never taken place, leaving the region’s ownership in
   question. Morocco created a long sand berm running the length of the
   territory, and this has become the line of demarcation between
   Morocco’s control in the large territory to the west and the SADR’s
   control east of the berm. Tensions remain high in the region,
   especially between native Sahrawi peoples and Moroccan immigrants.

   Image Facts
   Satellite:  Terra
   Date Acquired: 12/15/2020
   Resolutions:  1km (35.7 KB),  500m (120.7 KB),  250m (355.7
   KB)
   Bands Used: 1,4,3
   Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2020-12-17
 
