Lakes of Central Asia

Envisat captures the freshwater and saltwater lakes of southeastern Kazakhstan (from left to right at the top of the image: Lake Balkhash, Lake Sasykkol, Lake Koshkarkol and Lake Alakol), northeastern Kyrgyzstan (Lake Issky-Kol – bottom left corner) and the Xinjiang province in China (Sayram Lake – sapphire colour). The snow-capped peaks of the Tien Shan mountain range are visible in the bottom right corner.

Image acquired on 12 September 2007 by ESA’s Envisat’s MERIS (Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) instrument.