Phenomena: Lakes, Coasts
Satellites: Joint Polar Satellite System (Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21)
Product: Day Land Cloud RGB
Instrument: Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)
Date: May 19, 2012 – Nov. 9, 2024
This series of 26 enhanced color images via NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Program satellites shows the water level changes in Utah’s Great Salt Lake from May 2012 to Nov. 2024.
The lake, the largest saltwater body in the Western Hemisphere, has undergone drastic changes in elevation and surface area over time since monitoring began in 1875, with an historic high of 4,211.6 feet above sea level (covering 3,300 square miles of surface area) in 1986 to an historic low of 4,188.5 feet (covering roughly 950 square miles of surface area) in 2022. In this particular imagery loop, the lake starts at 4,198.5 feet above sea level on May 19, 2012, ending at 4,192.1 feet on Nov. 9, 2024.
The Day Land Cloud RGB imagery aims to mimic natural color while enhancing key features to highlight surface and vegetation changes, making it a versatile tool for differentiating land surface features. For this reason, it was useful for visualizing changes in the water level and size of the lake over time. Composed of one visible and two near-infrared channels, it can only be used in the daylight.
In this imagery, water appears in various shades of blue to almost black, vegetation appears light green, and wet marshy land appears dark green. Snow, ice and high clouds appear cyan. Can you spot the snowy peaks of the Wasatch mountains to the east of the lake and the Bonneville Salt Flats to the west?
For more information on this imagery product and how to interpret it, please follow this link.
NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System is the Nation’s advanced series of polar-orbiting environmental satellites, currently comprising Suomi NPP, NOAA-20 and NOAA-21. JPSS represents significant technological and scientific advancements in observations used for severe weather prediction and environmental monitoring. These data are critical to the timeliness and accuracy of forecasts three to seven days in advance of a severe weather event. JPSS is a collaborative effort between NOAA and NASA.