Some 30 years ago, the barren landscape of Saudi Arabia’s Wadi As Sirhan basin looked like any other desert. But over time, satellites such as the US Landsats and Copernicus Sentinels saw the area transform into a vast cropland.

The fields are fed by fossil water pumped from deep underground and distributed by central-pivot irrigation systems, where long water pipes rotate around a well at the centre, creating the circular features. Created thousands of years ago when the region received more rainfall, these water reserves enable agriculture in today’s desert, but experts say this resource will eventually be exhausted.