File:Dnieper River (MODIS 2018-09-24).jpg

English: The Dnieper River is the fourth-longest river in Europe, rising from a small peat bog in the Valdai Hills west of Moscow, Russia and flowing about 1,400 miles (2,200 km) through Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine to reach the Black Sea. On September 19, 2018, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of the middle and lower Dnieper River as it twists through the late summer landscape of Ukraine.

Kiev, the largest city and capital of Ukraine, is built on the banks of the Dnieper, roughly where the river reaches its western-most extent in Ukraine. Kiev can be seen as an area of gray pixels in the northwest section of this image just south of a green (forested) area and reaching the western bank of the Dnieper.

The curving river meanders through Kiev and, once south, it widens to about 1 mile (1.6 km). Further downstream it passes through a rocky plateau and the quiet river drops through a series of rapids. This has been harnessed to provide hydroelectric power. Further south the Dnieper enters the Black Sea lowland area which consists of black-soil steppe. The grassy steppe vegetation has been nearly all put into agriculture, with remnants existing primarily in nature reserves. The waters of the Dnieper are frequently used for irrigation in the lowlands, before the river flows into the Black Sea.