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Kufra Oasis, Libya, satellite image. In the midst of the Sahara, this town survives on water pumped from beneath the surface. Kufra (blue, bottom left) has vast irrigation schemes producing the circular agricultural plots visible here. Its airport is also clearly visible, to the right of the town itself. Although it is thought that the oasis is sometimes replenished through being at the convergence of two branches of Wadi Kufa, at the current rate of use it may well run dry by 2050. (KEYSTONE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/PLANETOBSERVER)