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Where is it?Razazah Lake , Iraq [ 32.66166243 , 43.6737757 ]
What ’s in the photo?A multicolored unreal lake border by agricultural harvest circles
The striking colors in Lake Razazah are the result of distinct algal communities living in each half of the drought-affected artificial body of water.
Who took the photo?An unnamed astronaut on the International Space Station ( ISS )
When was it taken?Sept . 23 , 2024
This intriguing astronaut picture shows the strike dichotomy of an artificial lake in Iraq , which has tardily transformed into a piquant , multicolored pool after years of drouth . It is also the site of C of eerie human being - made " crop lot . "
Lake Razazah used to look a lot different. This 1996 satellite photo shows the lake at its maximum volume, before the surrounding “crop circles” were made.
Lake Razazah , also known as Baḩr al - Milḩ or Lake Milh , is an artificial lake located to the Benjamin West of the city of Karbala ( visible in the photo ) . The trunk of piddle was create in the 1970s by diverting the overspill of the nearby Lake Habbaniyah through a canal and into a rude low . In the decades since , the lake has become more and more piquant as minerals from the lake ’s bed dissolved into the water . ( Baḩr al - Milḩ signify " Sea of Salt " in Arabic . )
In the exposure , the lake is split into two colors : Pinky red and swampy green . The different colouration are the result of high concentrations of algae in the water , grant toNASA ’s Earth Observatory . Each half of the lake is almost whole cut off from the other and has different chemical science and salinity levels , meaning they play host to dissimilar coinage of algae , hence the contrast colour .
However , the lake has not always looked like this . The colors only emerged during droughts in the last ten , when the pee levels dropped to between 16 and 32 metrical foot ( 5 and 10 meters ) . Before then , the lake was much deeper andhad a more traditional naughty hue .
The lake also used to cross a much full orbit , and — at certain points — it used to be one the declamatory fresh water lakes in Iraq , Reuters previously reported .
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To the southwestern United States of the lake , century of eerily rotary dark spell litter the surrounding landscape . These are circular fields that are watered using center - pivot man irrigation organisation , where a single big arm nebuliser water supply as it rotates around the field like the arms of a clock , fit in to the Earth Observatory .
The creative activity of these theatre has also likely contributed to the colorful lake ’s decline , as water from the lake and the nearby Euphrates River , which feeds into Lake Habbaniyah , was used to irrigate the circular paddocks . The harvest Mexican valium would have in the first place squeeze the Razazah ’s shoreline , but a significant spread has now opened up as the lake shrunk .
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In the initial long time after Razazah was organize , fish were introduced to the lake and a thriving wetland ecosystem emerged along the shoreline , which was home to a wide variety of botany and skirt . However , as the lake has dry up , the Pisces the Fishes disappeared and the wetland lento buy the farm , grant toBirdLife International .
Razazah is not the only artificial lake in Iraq . Around 250 miles ( 400 km ) to the northeast lies Lake Dukan — a " Christmas Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree - shaped " body of water that was make by damming a nearby river , which alsoplays server to striking algal blossom .
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