This Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) true-color image shows the passage of the Colorado Riverthrough several southwestern states. The river begins, in this image, inUtah at the far upper right, where Lake Powell is visible as dark pixelssurrounded by the salmon-colored rocks of the Colorado Plateau. TheColorado flows southwest through Glen Canyon, to the Glen Canyon Dam, onthe Utah-Arizona border. From there it flows south into Arizona, andthen turns sharply west where the Grand Canyon of the Colorado cutsthrough the mountains. The Colorado flows west to the Arizona-Nevada(upper left) border, where it is dammed again, this time by the HooverDam. The dark-colored pixels surrounding the bend in the river are LakeMead. The river flows south along the border of first Nevada and Arizonaand then California and Arizona. The Colorado River, which begins inRocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, empties into the Gulf ofCalifornia, seen at the bottom center of this image.
For more information about agriculture on the California-Mexico border, and theColorado River Delta, seethe high-resolution images from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER).
References & Resources
Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team
