The researchers discovered the riverbed using radar observation of the PALSAR device (Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar) from the Japanese satellite ALOS (Advanced Land Observing Satellite). Three-dimensional images allowed researchers to observe the even edges of ancient water channels hidden under the sand of the present desert.

The Tamanrasset River existed about five thousand years ago. In all likelihood, it originated in the south of the Atlas and Ahaggar mountains in present-day Algeria. The river with multiple tributaries was more than 500 kilometers long and flowed into the Atlantic Ocean in Mauritania.

Scientists estimate that plants and cattle were grown in large numbers in the Tamanrasset basin, and that complete drying took place within two thousand years.

If the river still existed today, it would have ranked 12 by its length. place among the largest flows on Earth.
There is scientific evidence of the existence of rivers in places in Africa where there are only deserts today. It is possible that deserts are not as old as scientists believe. In the section of the medieval map you can notice rivers in Africa that no longer exist today. For example, on a map of Gerhard Mercator from 1587, several rivers are drawn in the territory of present-day Sahara. It is possible that one of them was found using radar.