The Giant Mysterious Circles on the Saudi Desert Pasting Internet – What Happens Under Sand? | World News
Riyadh (Saudi Arabia): Something unusual began to emerge in the North Desert of Saudi Arabia. Satellite images show wide green and circular patches that stand out in the desert, such as alien marks on a golden sand canvas. These are not the ancient symbols or the extraterrestrial life symptoms, but a much more earthly thing – the crop areas designed in giant circles.
The images came from space. The European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite caught them as they scanned the deserted land earlier this year. Uneducated eye, pictures are surprising. Otherwise, dozens of dozens of shining and geometric ring scattered to the barren width. Images that illuminate online speculation and firing wild theories.
But there is an ambition designed behind the visual mystery. These circles are a view of agricultural attempt where Saudi Arabia has become the agricultural land of the desert.
The satellite caught them about 700 kilometers above the earth. The photos taken in October 2024, January 2025 and in May document fine changes over time. Each of these circular areas is about one kilometer diameter. There is a deep well in the middle of each apartment, touching the aquifers below. Long arms, equipped with rotating sprinklers, spiral around the central point, the soil equally shower.
This is sensitive farming adapted to one of the most extreme climates in the world. In a country where rain is rare and summer temperatures usually go beyond 50 degrees Celsius, these green rings offer a rare landscape. Wheat, vegetable and clover that pushes from dry floor.
His location is near the city of Tabarjal in the Wadi As-Sirhan Basin. It is once defined by only dust and rock. Now, part of an ambitious transformation. From above, surreal and psychedelic looks like an art installation. On the ground is the result of the upward pumping of irrigation systems, ruthless sunlight and underground water reserves to live in the ground.
But scientists give a warning. Underground aquifers feeding these areas are not renewed. Every time the fountains return, the water tray falls slightly lower. Over time, these green miracles can fade without new water resources or more sustainable technique.
The contrast is open in satellite images. The shining circles stand surrounded by dark patches – black soil, dry sand and black without vegetation. Among them, Tabarjal shines as a modest but vital center. Keeps the region alive, supplies food, supports rural communities, and now draws the world’s gaze.
From orbit to Oasis, this patch of Saudi Arabia tells the story of human determination, natural limits, and a slowly designed desert story.
