NASA shows Flow Country peat bogs in Scotland

NASA published an image of Scotland’s Flow Country on Thursday 12 November 2026. The agency said OLI on Landsat 8 captured the scene. It is centered on blanket bogs in the Scottish Highlands, which host the largest ecosystem of this type in Europe.

The peat bogs cover some 1,900 square kilometers (730 square miles) of the country’s Highlands region. Northern Scotland’s bogs are home to more than 30 species of sphagnum moss. In the image, boggy areas appear dark brown, while farmland around Thurso appears light green. Conifer plantations form darker green geometric patterns in the center.

NASA said the image was captured in the spring, when the land surface is most waterlogged and peat bogs begin accumulating large amounts of new biomass. The Flow Country peatland is the first of its type to be inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The bogs store carbon because their waterlogged soils prevent microbes from fully breaking down dead plant material. Partially decayed plants accumulate in thick layers of spongy, crumbly, carbon-rich material called peat. The process would otherwise release carbon dioxide.

NASA said these ecosystems, also called blanket mires and featherbed bogs, occur only where rainfall is abundant, drainage is poor and evapotranspiration is low. They cover just 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles) globally. This is less than one-tenth of one percent of Earth’s land surface.

Some parts of the Flow Country have accumulated peat for more than 9,000 years, with deposits exceeding eight meters thick, according to UNESCO. NASA said scientists estimate that peatlands cover just 3 percent of Earth’s land surface but store more than 600 gigatons of carbon. That is about twice as much as all the world’s forests combined.