Death Valley, CA

Death Valley, California is a desert valley in the Northern Mojave Desert. During the summer months, Death Valley can become one of the hottest places on Earth. Death Valley is about 85 miles from Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States with an elevation of 14,505 ft. This Land Surface Temperature image captured by ECOSTRESS on July 07, 2022 shows temperatures exceeding 90 degrees Fahrenheit in Death Valley and temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. ECOSTRESS is a thermal instrument on the International Space Station that measures the temperature of the ground, which is hotter than the air temperature during the day. It was launched to the space station in 2018. Its primary mission is to identify critical thresholds of water use and water stress in plants and to detect the timing, location, and predictive factors leading to plant water uptake decline and/or cessation. The nature of the high-resolution data provided by ECOSTRESS allows it to record heat related phenomena such as heat waves and wildfires. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25482