Khartoum, Sudan

This false-colour image of south Khartoum in Sudan was one of the first from Sentinel-2A on 28 June, five days after it arrived in orbit.

The scene lies just south of the capital, the country’s second largest city. It sits between the White Nile River on the left (not visible) and the Blue Nile River on the right, which flows west from Ethiopia.

The scene confirms that Sentinel-2 is doing the job it was designed for: monitoring vegetation. The mission tracks variability in land surface conditions, with its wide swath width and frequent revisits showing how vegetation changes during the growing season.

The high-resolution multispectral instrument reveals the area’s agricultural condition.

Part of the Blue Nile River is visible on the upper right corner. The scattered reds bordering the river denote the dense vegetation. In this arid part of the country, much of the agriculture is highly concentrated around the river.

Along the Blue Nile, farming patterns recall French-style farms. Every agricultural plot is a distinctive rectangle, with some substantially longer than others. This geometric arrangement allows each plot to be irrigated.

The main crops include sorghum, wheat, cotton, sunflower groundnuts, vegetables, fruit trees, and alfalfa.

Sentinel-2A has been in orbit since 23 June. It is a high-resolution satellite for land monitoring, providing imagery of vegetation, soil and water cover, inland waterways and coastal areas.

This image is featured on the Earth from Space video programme.