Earth from Space - Image Description

STS058-085-083 Snake River Valley, Idaho, U.S.A. October 1993
The Snake River Valley and the southwestern Salmon River Mountains are featured in this north-northeast-looking, low-oblique photograph. The Snake River Valley, a vast lava plateau built up by repeated outpourings of volcanic rock nearly 20 million years ago, contains high plains, immense fields of volcanic rubble, deep gorges, and fertile volcanic soil that produces abundant potato crops. Much of the westward-flowing Snake River and its tributaries that are used for irrigation and the south-southeast path of the Bruneau River are apparent in the bottom half of the photograph. Visible near the center of the photograph are the Anderson Ranch Reservoir; to its left appear Lucky Peak Reservoir and the barely discernible city of Boise. The large Cascade Reservoir is visible near the upper left of the photograph.

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