Lake Volta in Ghana is one of the largest man-made bodies of water in the world. It was captured from 800 kilometers above Earth by ESA’s Envisat satellite. Lake Volta spans 8,482 square kilometers, covering much of the West African nation of Ghana.
It was created in the mid-1960s with the construction of the Akosombo Dam on the Volta River. The lake plays a crucial role in generating electricity, providing inland transport, and supporting irrigation and fishing.
In the image above, you can see the distinct contrast between the lush forests of the Ashanti region in the southeast and the more arid lowland savannah to the north. Road networks connect to Kumasi, Ghana’s second-largest city with a population of around 660,000. Southeast of Kumasi lies Lake Bosumtwi, a circular crater lake formed by a meteorite impact – one of only 18 confirmed impact craters in Africa.
This image was taken on 12 February 2003 by the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) aboard Envisat. It offers a resolution of 300 meters and covers an area of 450 km by 670 km.
This image and article originally appeared on esa.int
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