Utah, United States

This Envisat image, acquired by the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) on 27 April 2008, features the diverse terrain of the state of Utah, located in the western part of the United States. The snowcapped mountains left of image centre are comprised of the Uinta Mountains and the Wasatch Range, both segments of the Rocky Mountains. Great Salt Lake (top left) is the largest salt lake in the western hemisphere. The whitish area visible to the left of the lake is Great Salt Lake Desert, an arid region that extends from the west of the lake to the border of Nevada. The clay-coloured area at image bottom is the Colorado Plateau – a gigantic basin containing a variety of landforms ranging from rugged plateaus, canyons, mountains, river gorges and deserts.