June 13, 2022 - Lake Balkhash

Lake Balkhash
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The milky-blue waters of Lake Balkhash stand in stark contrast to the
tans and browns of the arid land surrounding the massive lake. Sitting
in southeastern Kazakhstan, the crescent-shaped Lake Balkhash spans
about 400 miles (644 km) from east to west, and covers an area of
roughly 6,600 square miles (17,000 square km), making it the
fifteenth-largest lake on Earth, by surface area. More than 35,000
years old, Lake Balkhash receives water from seven rivers, but has no
outflow. The largest river is the Ili River, which rises in the
snow-covered Tian-Shan mountains, cuts across northwestern China to
form a massive delta on the southeastern shore of the western section
of Lake Balkhash.

Water in the western part of the lake is almost fresh—suitable for
drinking and industrial uses—whereas the eastern side of the basin is
brackish to salty. The western side is also murkier; visibility/light
penetrates to about 1 meter, compared to more than 5 meters on the
eastern side. This murkiness, and the water’s milky blue color, is
primarily due to sediments suspended in the water. The sediment is both
carried it from the Ili and other rivers and stirred up from the bottom
by action of winds on the surface of the shallow lake.

On June 12, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of
Lake Balkhash. The immense Ili River Delta appears as an expanse of
dark water and braided channels in the west, while the Karatal River
forms a smaller delta in the eastern section of Lake Balkhash.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 6/7/2022
Resolutions: 1km (532.5 KB), 500m (1.4 MB), 250m (3.2 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-06-13

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