The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over south-central Morocco, near the city of Ouarzazate.
Zoom in or click on the circles to explore this image at its full 10 m resolution.
This image captures the region of the Anti-Atlas Mountains, partially visible to the south, which run parallel to and south of the central range of North Africa’s High Atlas mountains. Here the landscape is mostly dry and barren, as these mountains lie within the Saharan climate zone.
This false-colour image has been processed using Sentinel-2’s near-infrared channel. This band combination is most commonly used to assess vegetation density and health, as plants reflect near-infrared and green light while absorbing red. Since plants reflect more near-infrared than green, densely vegetated land appears bright red.
Red vegetated areas are clearly visible along the banks of the rivers that flow through the surrounding semi-arid terrain. Rivers in the region are mostly seasonal, typically only carrying significant amounts of water during the winter and spring. Captured in January 2026, during the wet season, this image even clearly shows smaller tributaries, along with vegetation and agricultural plots.
North of the larger red area, lies the urban fabric of Ouarzazate, the provincial capital, situated in the valley of the Ouarzazate River, also known as Assif n’Tidili. Owing to its desert landscapes and historical architecture, the Berber-speaking city is a popular filming location. Productions such as Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), The Mummy (1999), Gladiator (2000) and part of the TV series Game of Thrones were shot here.
Just a few kilometres east of the city lies El Mansour Eddahbi Reservoir, visible in black. The lake has an average depth of 30 m and is divided into two sections: a smaller western part fed by the Ouarzazate River and several smaller streams, and a much larger eastern section fed by the Draa – Morocco’s longest river – seen in the lower right flowing southeast from the reservoir.
The large feature about 10 km north of the city is the Ouarzazate solar power station, also called Noor (Arabic for light) Power Station. Completed in four phases and covering over 3000 hectares, it is the world’s largest concentrated solar power facility. Such plants use mirrors to focus sunlight onto receivers, generating heat that can be stored and converted into electricity even when the sun is not shining.