Earth from Space - Image Description

STS040-151-116 Southeastern California, U.S.A. June 1991
This southwest-looking, oblique photograph of southeastern California from the Salton Sea in the south to the southeastern Mojave Desert reveals the browns, tans, and yellows of this arid region. The only extensive area of vegetation lies in the cultivated northern Imperial Valley northwest of the Salton Sea. The dark, irrigated field patterns are barely discernible in the valley between the Santa Rosa Mountains (southwest of the valley) and the southeastern extension of the San Bernardino Mountains (north-northeast side of the valley). Mountains of various elevations and sizes stand in marked contrast with the sandy valleys between the ranges. The isolated, reflective white areas are dry lakebeds. The two darker, irregular features near the lower right side of the photograph are exposed lava beds.

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