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Landsat 5 Image of the Great Salt Lake in July, 1986

Detailed Description

Natural color Landsat 5 image of the Great Salt Lake acquired on July 1, 1986. In 1986, the lake was at a record high and covered approximately 2,300 square miles and contained 30 million acre-feet of water (an acre-foot is the amount of water necessary to cover 1 acre of land with water 1 foot in depth or about 326,000 gallons). The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has been collecting water-surface-elevation data from Great Salt Lake since 1875 and continuously since October 1902.

Learn more about the Landsat mission at https://www.usgs.gov/landsat-missions/

Learn more about the Great Salt Lake from the Utah Water Science Center

 

Sources/Usage

Public Domain.