Greenhouses of the Campo de Dalías, Spain

High-resolution image (309 Kb)

The sunny area in the south of Spain offers more to the national economy than simply tourism. Over the past 50 years, the small coastal plain of Campo -- about 30 kilometers (19 miles) southwest of the city of Almería -- has been intensively developed for agriculture. An estimated 49,421 acres [delete (20,000 hectares)] of extra-early market produce is grown in greenhouses in the Campo de Dalías and accounts for over $1.5 billion dollars in economic activity. The area has a dry and mild Mediterranean climate and is further sheltered on the north by the Sierra de Gador. With slightly more than 20 centimeters (8 inches) of annual precipitation to support crop growth, the area also relies on groundwater fed by small streams and aquifers from the mountains to the north.

This image was taken with a digital camera by the crew of the International Space Station. Note the dense, bright pattern of thousands of greenhouses extending from the shoreline right up to the base of the mountains and even into some of the smaller valleys. Salt pan operations can also be seen in the long coastal lagoons.

Astronaut photograph ISS008-E-14686 was provided by the Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory at Johnson Space Center. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.