Al Jazirah (also Gezira) is one of the 26 states of Sudan. The state lies
between the Blue Nile and the White Nile in the east-central region of the
country. It is a well populated area suitable for agriculture. The area
was at the southern end of Nubia and little is known about its ancient
history and only limited archaeological work has been conducted in this
area. The region has benefited from the Gezira Scheme, a program to foster
cotton farming begun in 1925. At that time the Sennar Dam and numerous
irrigation canals were built. Al Jazirah became the Sudan's major
agricultural region with more than 2.5 million acres (10,000 km)
under cultivation. The initial development project was semi-private, but
the government nationalized it in 1950. Cotton production increased in the
1970s but by the 1990s increased wheat production has supplanted a third
of the land formerly seeded with cotton.
The image was acquired December 25, 2006, covers an area of 56 x 36.4 km,
and is located near 14.5 degrees north latitude, 33.1 degrees east
longitude.
The U.S. science team is located at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif. The Terra mission is part of NASA's Science Mission
Directorate.
