Cool Satellite Images of Black Rock

Thanks to Lizard Man for producing these very cool images!

Shot of entire desert
Shot of SE corner of desert

False Color Satellite Image:
Larger version, GIF

This image is computer processed to provide details on the location of subsurface water throughout the Playa. Gerlach is just off the southern tip of the playa; Fly reservoir (the geyser) is the grouping of blue spots to the far left of the image, beside the smaller alkali flat. The Selenite Mountain Range comes in from the bottom of the image, just to the right of the playa, and Trego Mountain is also clearly visible as a solitary ridge just to the northeast of the end of the Selenites. The images were acquired at 9:30 AM on July 16, 1984 but should be representative of late summer in any year. Because of sun angle, the western slopes of mountain ranges show as a grey-blue shadow while the sunlit sides appear green. The railroad tracks along the eastern edge of the playa are barely visible, as are the state highways and gravel roads. Automobile tracks on the playa itself are not visible. The Quinn River, which enters the Black Rock Desert from the northeast, feeds onto the playa at the upper right of the image. This area, which is a deep purple to blue (depending on your monitor) was the site of a small lake during Burning Man 1995 and 1996 due to heavy winter rains and the fact that the playa had not fully dried yet. The Black Rock Range is just off the upper right corner of the image; a tiny fraction can be seen in the corner, with a small bean-shaped pond visible rather high up on the slope.

The color scheme is as follows:

Dark Green: exposed rock and soil, with some vegetation
Light Green: vegetation cover (typically sagebrush)
Deep blue: standing water bodies
Grey-blue: shadows and shaded areas
Purple: shaded areas, or bright, dry playa
Red: SUBSURFACE WATER
Magenta: lots of SUBSURFACE WATER, also wet surface mud

So, you can hang this on your wall or use it as a map to tell you where not to go: don't drive on the magenta regions, use caution on the red areas, and stay the hell away from the Red/Magenta places! The dark purple/blue that makes up the majority of the southern playa is perfectly safe: remember that even in the middle of our encampment, digging down about two feet will get you wet clay. This image does not necessarily tell you where water IS but it does indicate where water is most likely to be. Use with caution!

Other images:

Shot of SE corner showing wet spots (actually the image is showing COOL spots....the presence of water causes evaporative cooling )

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