Earth from Space - Image Description

STS062-114-015 Lake Macleod, Western Australia, Australia March 1994
The 370 000 acre (150 000 hectare) bed of Lake Macleod is usually dry, but this image shows brownish-looking shallow water in the central and eastern sections of the lake. The primary water source for Lake Macleod is seawater that passes underground and up into sinkholes on the west side of the lake (turquoise blue areas). Water in the sinkholes is permanent, occasionally flows over land to collect at the south end, and is used for commerical salt production (squared white areas in the center left). Under rare conditions, flows from rivers such as the Lyndon River (greenish band in the center right) or high local precipitation can flood the dry lakebed. Compare this low oblique, west-looking view to STS035-076-040, which is a near vertical look at Lake Macleod during typical dry conditions.

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