This remarkable false-color image obtained by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 spacecraft displays Lake Abbe in northeast Ethiopia, and is reminiscent of an artist's palette.
Lake Abbe, also known as Lake Abhe, is visible as the enormous circular black expanse straddling the border between Ethiopia to the west and Djibouti to the east. The lake is 19 kilometres wide and 17 kilometres long, and is very salty. It is studded with steaming limestone chimneys and flanked by vast white salt flats and rift volcanoes. Mount Dama Ali, a dormant 25-kilometer-wide shield volcano on the lake's northwest coast, is the largest volcano in the photograph.
Lake Abbe and Lake Afambo, visible at the top of the photograph, are part of a chain of six linked salt lakes supplied by Ethiopia's largest river, the Awash.
This image was captured using the near-infrared channel of Copernicus Sentinel-2, which emphasises vegetation in vivid red, as seen in the upper left along the Awash River. This band combination also aids in the identification of algal blooms, which may be seen as red stripes in the dark waters of Lake Abbe. The pale blue coloration on the lake's west coast shows sediment discharge.
Lake Abbe is regarded one of the most inaccessible regions on Earth due to its arid, desert, almost lunar scenery and steamy, sulfuric vents. Earth observation satellites are critical in these circumstances since they are especially useful for monitoring remote areas like this.
Credit: ESA
