File:Western United States (MODIS 2018-09-23).jpg

English: On September 20, 2018, NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over the Western United States, allowing the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board to acquire a stunning true-color image of the region.

Eight states are captured in this image: Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. Tans and browns of sand, rocks, and senescent vegetation, typical of an end-of-summer landscape in the arid and semi-arid west predominate. Dark greens are typical of forest, especially in the mountains such as the Sierra Nevada (west) and the Rocky Mountains in the east. The oval-shaped Central Valley of California, which is rich in agriculture, contains an abundance of light green vegetation.

South and east of the Central Valley, areas of tan sand are the Mojave and the Sonoran Deserts. The Mojave sits mostly in southeastern California and Nevada while the Sonoran Desert covers parts of Arizona, California and northern Mexico. Orange sands in Arizona mark the location of the Painted Desert. Additional notable features, easily viewable from space, are Utah’s dual-colored Great Salt Lake and the large, pale Bonneville Salt Flats just to the west and south of the Great Salt Lake.