Earth from Space - Image Description

STS040-151-115 Mojave Desert, California, U.S.A. June 1991
Indications of human activity in this part of the Mojave Desert east of Barstow, California, are few. Some cultivated fields (small, darker areas) are visible within a triangular alluvial fan north of which lies Coyote Lake, a large, white dry lake. Interstate Highway 15, which connects Los Angeles, California, with Las Vegas, Nevada, and Interstate Highway 40 traversing California and Arizona appear as two thin, dark lines. The two larger, dark, irregular areas southeast of the fan are exposed lava beds. The remainder of the photograph shows eroding mountains and sandy intermontane valleys.

This service is provided by the International Space Station program and the JSC Earth Science & Remote Sensing Unit, ARES Division, Exploration Integration Science Directorate.