The Importance of Water for the Vegetation and for Human Civilization

The Nile Delta and the Sinai Peninsula. The contrast between irrigated land and the surrounding desert can hardly be more visible than on such a satellite taking (NASA S-65-34776, Gemini IV, June 1965). The irrigated area shown in the photo is one of the oldest human settlement areas of the world. The picture to the left shows an irrigated cultivated area close to the Salton Sea (at the Anza Borego in South California, USA). The picture was taken with an infrared camera (NASA).