Earth from Space - Image Description

STS064-080-030 Mojave Desert and Barstow, California, U.S.A. September 1994
The dry riverbed of the Mojave River in the Mojave Desert is captured in this near-vertical photograph. The riverbed travels north, begins to curve northeast, finally turns approximately 90deg at Barstow, and travels almost due east. Several manmade features are visible--dark, circular center-pivot irrigation patterns; rectangular irrigated fields; and linear features that are railroad rights-of-way, highways, and construction grid patterns for future development. Most of the larger, highly reflective land areas are dry lakebeds. Many of the hills and mountains rise approximately 2000 feet (610 meters) above the desert floor.

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