Lake Milh in central Iraq
Lake Milh in central Iraq. Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features one of Iraq’s largest lakes, Lake Milh, which has been fluctuating in recent decades as a result of dam management and droughts.
The photograph shows that Lake Milh – also known as Lake Razzaza – is finally starting to fill up again.
In the 1980s, Lake Milh was a popular recreational area, as well as an important breeding ground for many birds such as flamingos. In the following years, however, water levels began to disappear along with tourism and several fish species. Lake Milh in central Iraq
The image was captured on August 21, 2020 by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8.Iraq has a coastline measuring 58 km (36 miles) on the northern Persian Gulf and encompasses the Mesopotamian Alluvial Plain, the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert. Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws and live in cities under an organised government—notably Uruk, from which “Iraq” is derived. The area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian empires
Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer
