Earth from Space: Tashkent, Uzbekistan

The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Tashkent, the capital city of Uzbekistan.

Zoom in to explore this image at its full 10 m resolution or click on the circles to learn more. 

Visible as the grey area in the top right of the image, Tashkent is the largest city in Central Asia. It lies in northeast Uzbekistan, near the border with Kazakhstan. The city is situated in the Chirchiq River valley.

Vast agricultural fields dominate the image, particularly at the bottom. Cotton is the chief crop in this region, but wheat, rice, jute, melons and vegetables are also grown.

The dark green body of water in the centre of the image is the Shardara Reservoir, an artificial lake located entirely within Kazakhstan. Along the edges of the lighter patch of cultivated land, visible south of the reservoir, runs the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The lighter colours in the reservoir indicate the presence of sediment. The reservoir, which is used for irrigation, is the result of the Chardara dam – visible on the northwest bank. It is fed by the Syr Darya River, which enters the basin from southeast and flows northwest along the green strip of agricultural fields in the upper part of the image, within the surrounding desert.

West of the river lies the Kyzylkum Desert, the 15th largest desert in the world. The Aydar Lake is immediately south. It is part of the artificial Aydar-Arnasay system of lakes, which, covering a total area of 4000 sq km, constitutes the largest reservoir in Uzbekistan.

Copernicus Sentinel-2 is designed to provide images that can be used to distinguish between different crop types and accurately monitor plant growth. The mission’s frequent revisits over the same area and high spatial resolution also allow changes in inland water bodies to be closely monitored.