Before and after satellite images show lakes appearing over the Sahara after a deluge of rain soaked the desert

Lakes have appeared in the Sahara after a cyclone brought a deluge of rain to northern Africa that drenched parts of the largest hot desert on The earthshows satellite images.

An extratropical cyclone hit parts of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya on September 7 and 8, dropping about 20 centimeters on the affected areas – the equivalent of a full year’s rainfall in just a few days, according to NASA’s Earth Observatory.

The flood and runoff filled several temporary lakes in the Sahara, including Sebkha el Melah in Algeria and several scattered around Erg Chebbi – a vast star dunes in Morocco. NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite also captured several temporary lakes occurring over parts of Morocco and Algeria.

The Erg Chebbi lakes were filled after rivers from the nearby Atlas Mountains overflowed near Merzouga, a town near the Algerian border that serves as a gateway to the Star Dunes. An image taken on October 1 by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites shows new lakes scattered around the edges of Erg Chebbi.

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NASA’s Landsat 9 satellite captured the images of the newly filled Sebkha el Melah lake in Algeria. Images taken on August 12 and September 29 and shared by the Earth Observatory show changes in the landscape, with a green lake appearing in the desert.

Images of Erg Chebbi, with the first showing the region in 2021, the second after the Flood, taken on 1 October 2024

Images of Erg Chebbi, the first showing the region in 2021, the second after the Flood, taken on October 1, 2024. (Image credit: Google Earth/European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery)

The lake covered 74 square miles (191 square kilometers) and was about 7.2 feet (2.2 meters) deep, according to calculations by Moshe Armonsenior lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Armon used satellite imagery to determine the extent of the water combined with a 3D map of the lake, according to the Earth Observatory.

Since 2000, there have been two times when the water levels in Sebkha el Melah were higher than they are now. In 2008, the lake was filled after an extratropical cyclone brought exceptionally heavy rains. It took four years for the lake to dry up completely again.

Pictures showing Algeria and Morocco on August 14 and October 9

Pictures showing Algeria and Morocco on August 14 and October 9. (Image credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC)

The water currently filling Sebkha el Melah is likely to remain for some time. “If we don’t get any more rain events, a 2.2-meter depth like we have now would take about a year to evaporate completely,” Armon said in the statement.

Understanding how rainfall events like September’s cyclone affect the Sahara helps scientists better understand what the desert looked like thousands of years ago, when it was green, and how it will change in the future as a result of climate change.

Current forecasts suggest that parts of the Sahara will receive more rainfall, but there are huge uncertainties. “What will happen in the Sahara is still very unclear, but we hope that we will eventually develop a better understanding of the Sahara’s future by studying these lake-filled events,” Armon said.

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Before and after satellite images show lakes appearing over the Sahara after a deluge of rain soaked the desert

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