When I saw the map for the first time, my first thought was that it was a cut in the photonegative from the satellite, as if from a hole puncher of some kind. The incomplete circles made me second-guess that theory, although those could be incomplete cuts as well.
Any volunteers to travel to Libya and see the area personally? :)
Anonymous
@ 2005-11-17 20:15:19
Go a bit further south, and you find some light green ones.
Use the measure tool, and you see they are exactly 1km across.
No doubt they are fields. You see the same all over the US.
The distance between them would be explained by the limited water supply in the ground. They most likely need water from a larger area than the field itself for irrigation.
I believe that these are holding ponds for water for the Great Manmade River Project. The ancient water is pumped from the acquifer. The big pipe lies just to the west beside the road, and can be followed all the way north to another big holding pond, where the pipe splits to go north to Benghazi and west to Tripoli.
The lighter green ones to the south are at the Kufrah Oasis. They are likely irrigated fields.
In Libya, when you order a big bottle of water at a restaurant, you can just say 'Kufrah'.
Lakes 
http://www.crdp-strasbourg.fr/imageEcole/deserts/hr/image13.jpg
http://web.macam.ac.il/~arnon/Int-ME/me-sat/Kufra%20Oasis%20Libya.jpg
http://www.fas.usda.gov/pecad2/highlights/2004/05/libya/kufrapivots.htm
My guess is that they're oil storage ponds of some sort.
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/27960/an//page//vc/1
When I saw the map for the first time, my first thought was that it was a cut in the photonegative from the satellite, as if from a hole puncher of some kind. The incomplete circles made me second-guess that theory, although those could be incomplete cuts as well.
Any volunteers to travel to Libya and see the area personally? :)
Use the measure tool, and you see they are exactly 1km across.
No doubt they are fields. You see the same all over the US.
The distance between them would be explained by the limited water supply in the ground. They most likely need water from a larger area than the field itself for irrigation.
The lighter green ones to the south are at the Kufrah Oasis. They are likely irrigated fields.
In Libya, when you order a big bottle of water at a restaurant, you can just say 'Kufrah'.