One of the first photos taken by Envisat, ESA's Earth observation satellite on 22 of March 2002.
This MERIS image shows the complex river system inside Casamance with its heavy discharge into the sea. A series of such images are needed to monitor the transport of sediment which arises from inland soil erosion.
This scence covers the transition zone between savannah in the north and tropical vegetation in the south. MERIS can also monitor the intensification of land use which leads to increased erosion and soil loss.

Technical Information:

Instrument: MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS)

Date of Acquisition: 22 March 2002

Orbit number: 00306

Instrument features: Full resolution image (300-meter resolution).
MERIS was designed to measure the concentration of phytoplankton. The colours seen by MERIS indicate the concentration of chlorophyll, the pigment that phytoplankton use for photosynthesis. MERIS can detect chlorophyll concentrations of less than 1/10 000 000 of a gram per litre. MERIS data will be used to monitor the worldwide distribution of phytoplankton and to compute primary production.