This image, which was captured on 3 February 2019, is also featured on the Earth from Space video programme. The mission’s frequent revisits over the same area and high spatial resolution allow changes in inland water bodies to be closely monitored. This mineral is collected and used for glass manufacturing, fabric dyeing and paper production.Ĭopernicus Sentinel-2 is a two-satellite mission to supply the coverage and data delivery needed for Europe’s Copernicus programme. The mineral trona can also be found in the lake’s waters. An endemic species of fish, the alkaline tilapia, lives along the edges of the hotspring inlets, and the lake actually derives its color from salt-loving microorganisms that thrive in its alkaline waters. This bright red lake is the world’s most caustic body of water, but not to everything. The lake is over 30 km long and has a notably high salt content, and in some places the salt is up to 40 metres thick. Lake Natron, in Africa’s Great Rift Valley, practically sends a warning with its color. The pink-coloured waters of Lake Magadi can also be seen at the top of the image. The extinct Gelai Volcano, standing at 2942 m tall, is visible southeast of the lake. In fact, the lake is home to the highest concentrations of lesser and greater flamingos in East Africa, where they feed on spirulina – a green algae with red pigments. The saline waters make the lake inhospitable for many plants and animals, yet the surrounding salt water marshes are a surprising habitat for flamingos. Despite its dark colour in this image, Lake Natron is often bright red owing to the presence of microorganisms that feed on the salts of the water. Lake Natron is around 60 km long and is fed mainly by the Ewaso Ng'iro River. Other animals which inhabit this area are zebra, ostrich, fringed eared oryx, gazelle, gerenuk, lesser kudu and golden jackal.The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over two saline lakes in East Africa: the larger Lake Natron in northern Tanzania and the smaller Lake Magadi, just over the border in Kenya. Because the flamingos use this area for breeding the lake and its surrounding is under the International concern for preservation. The flamingos of lake Natron feed with the lakes Spirulina algae. They build their nests using the soda flats between August and October.
The lake is a breeding place for thousands of Rift Valley Flamingos. Some of the activities at Lake Natron are swimming, a visit to Maasai boma or a simple trek to the Ngorongoro Crater Highlands with numerous craters. Among the most prominent attractions of Lake Natron is the Gelai Volcano, a 2,942 m (9,652 feet) high volcano in the southeastern part, and the archeological site of Peninj, where archeologists discovered the Peninj Mandible – the fossilized teeth of Australopithecus boisei. The area around the lake offers different attractions such as a large number of volcanic implosion craters, numerous waterfalls and ravines with nesting places for Rüppell's Griffon Vultures. The surface of Lake Natron, which has high salt, magnesite and sodium carbonate concentration, is covered with a pinkish-white soda crust. The shallow and alkaline lake has different springs, the Ewaso Ng'iro River and different hot springs.
Lake Natron covers an area 56 km (35 miles) long and 24 km (15 miles) wide but the water level changes due to evaporation. The lake is in the vicinity of Ol Doinyo Lengai, which is visible on the southern part. Lake Natron is situated in northern Tanzania on the border with Kenya, close to the Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
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