May 9th, 2012 Category: Lakes, Salt Flats

Bolivia - May 8th, 2012

The vast Salar de Uyuni appears as a bright white expanse on the Bolivian Altiplano, near the border with Chile. It is the world’s largest salt flat at 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sq mi).

Just north of the salar is  Lake Poopó, green from sediments and algal growth. It is a large yet shallow lake in Bolivia’s Altiplano Mountains. To its northwest is the larger and deeper Lake Titicaca, dark blue in color, shared by Peru and Bolivia.

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May 8th, 2012 Category: Image of the day, Lakes, Rivers, Salt Flats

Botswana - April 28th, 2012

Many bodies of water, different in size and hydrology, can be observed in this image of Angola (upper left), Zambia (upper right), Botswana (lower left) and Zimbabwe (lower right).

Visible by the right edge is the dark blue Lake Kariba, located on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is the world’s largest artificial reservoir by volume. Southwest of the lake is the Makgadikgadi Pan, in Botswana, the world’s largest salt flat complex.

In the center of the image is the Caprivi Strip, a narrow protrusion of Namibia eastwards about 450 km (280 mi), between Botswana to the south, Angola and Zambia to the north, and Okavango Region to the west. Caprivi is bordered by the Okavango, Kwando, Chobe and Zambezi Rivers.

To the west is the Okavango Delta, formed where the Okavango River empties onto the Kalahari Desert. To the north is the Barotse Floodplain, which begins by the Zambezi River’s confluence with the Kabompo and Lungwebungu Rivers in the north. The region is a flat plateau at an elevation of about 1000 m tilting very slightly to the south.

Tags: Angola Barotse Floodplain Botswana Caprivi Strip Chobe River Kalahari Desert Kwando River Lake Kariba Makgadikgadi Pan Okavango Delta Okavango River Zambezi River Zambia Zimbabwe | | Leave a comment

May 6th, 2012 Category: Deserts, Lakes, Salt Flats

Algeria and Tunisia - April 14th, 2012

The Mediterranean coast from Morocco (left), across Algeria, to Tunisia (right) is green and vegetated, in contrast with the sands of the Sahara Desert to the south. Two large lakes can be observed amidst the desert sands, however: Chott el Djerid and Chott Ech Chergui.

The former is located in Tunisia. It is a large endorheic salt lake with a width of 20 km (12 mi) at its narrowest point, and a length of over 250 km (160 mi). Here, it appears various shades of tan, with the lighter areas likely indicating a salt crust.

Chott Ech Chergui is a large endorheic salt lake in northwestern Algeria, located at in the Saharan Atlas. The lake has an area of about 2000 km² and is one of the largest lakes in Algeria. Chott Ech Chergui is designated a Ramsar wetland of international importance.

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May 4th, 2012 Category: Salt Flats

Namibia - April 28th, 2012

The Etosha pan is a large endorheic salt pan, forming part of the Kalahari Basin in the north of Namibia. The salt desert supports very little plant life except for the blue-green algae that gives the Etosha its characteristic colouring, and grasses like Sporobolus spicatus which quickly grow in the wet mud following a rain. Here, the eastern part of the pan appears greenish, while the western side is white in color.

This harsh dry land with little vegetation and small amounts of salty water, when it is present at all, supports little wildlife all year round but is used by a large number of migratory birds. The hypersaline pan supports brine shrimp and a number of extremophile micro-organisms tolerant of the high saline conditions.

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May 3rd, 2012 Category: Lakes, Rivers, Salt Flats

Botswana - April 15th, 2012

The large white area near the center of this image is the salty surface of the Makgadikgadi Pan. Located in northern Botswana, it is the largest salt flat complex in the world, covering approximately 16,000 km2.

Visible to the northwest of the pan is the Okavango Delta, also in Botswana. It is the world’s largest inland delta, formed where the Okavango River empties onto the terrain of the Kalahari Desert.

Visible to the northeast of the pan is Lake Kariba, the world’s largest human-made reservoir by volume, with a storage capacity of 185 cubic kilometers (44.4 cu mi) and covering an area of 5,580 square kilometers (2,150 sq mi) and . It is located on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Tags: Botswana Lake Kariba Makgadikgadi Pan Okavango Delta Okavango River Zambia Zimbabwe | | Leave a comment

May 2nd, 2012 Category: Salt Flats

India - April 28th, 2012

Sun glint gives a bright, silvery white color to the Gulf of Khambhat, an inlet of the Arabian Sea along the west coast of India, in the state of Gujarat. Some white areas can also be observed further inland, to the northwest; however, this coloring is due to the white salt flats of the Rann of Kutch, by the India-Pakistan border.

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April 28th, 2012 Category: Salt Flats

Namibia - April 15th, 2012

The Etosha pan is a large endorheic salt pan, forming part of the Kalahari Basin in the north of Namibia. The 120-kilometre-long (75-mile-long) dry lakebed and its surroundings are protected as Etosha National Park, one of Namibia’s largest wildlife parks. The area exhibits a characteristic white and greenish surface, which spreads over hundreds of kilometres.

The pan is mostly dry but after a heavy rain it will acquire a thin layer of water, which is heavily salted by the mineral deposits on the surface of the pan, which most of the year is dry mud coated with salt that splits into hexagonal shapes as it dries and cracks. Today it is seldom seen with even a thin sheet of water covering it.

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April 26th, 2012 Category: Deserts, Phytoplankton, Salt Flats, Sediments

Libya and Tunisia - April 14th, 2012

Bright blue and green sediments and phytoplankton can be observed in the Gulf of Gabes and all along the shores of Tunisia, stretching to the Libyan coastline as well. The color is darker green in the Gulf of Gabes and around the Kerkennah Islands, and bright blue east of Djerba.

Further inland, the Chott el Djerid appears as a large, dark tan area. It is a large endorheic salt lake in southern Tunisia and the largest salt pan of the Sahara, with a surface area of over 7,000 km2. South of Chott el Djerid, the Grand Erg Oriental desert begins.

Tags: Chott el Djerid Djerba Grand Erg Oriental Gulf of Gabes Kerkennah Islands Libya Sahara Desert Tunisia | | Leave a comment

April 25th, 2012 Category: Lakes, Salt Flats

Aral Sea - April 14th, 2012

The Aral Sea has divided into three basins due to its incredible decrease in water levels over the last fifty years. Much of the area once covered by water is now covered by salt flats. Here, the southeastern basin shows the lowest water levels. The northern basin is partially covered by ice, best observed in the full image.

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