An astronaut aboard the International Space Station captured this photo of Lake Gregory in the remote Great Sandy Desert of northwestern Australia. Lake Gregory, at 16 kilometers (10 miles) wide, is the largest and only permanent waterbody in a network of brackish lakes and associated wetlands. The water displays blue and green hues and is surrounded by an extensive field of tan and orange-toned linear dunes.

Lake Gregory, also known as Paraku or Paruku, and its surrounding wetlands are part of the Paruku Indigenous Protected Area, which is managed by its Traditional Owners, including the Walmajarri, Jaru, and Kukatja peoples. The area has a thriving tourist presence.

Sturt Creek supplies water to the lake from the north. The image depicts a gray-brown delta where the river flows into the lakes and wetlands. A smaller feeder river channel enters Lake Gregory from the northeast. The irregular shapes of numerous, slightly lighter-toned burned areas mark the linear dunes. A small smoke plume is visible north of Lake Gregory.

The abundance of water visible in the photo indicates that the lake system in October 2024 was unusually full. The excess can be attributed to the region’s highest recorded rainfall, which occurred upstream in the Sturt Creek drainage basin during the prior wet season.

For comparison, a much smaller extent of water is visible in the satellite image (inset), acquired by the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 in October 2021. The 2021 image represents a more typical year when many of the wetland areas are completely dry, exposing gray and white salt flats.

Faint indications of unpaved roads cross the feeder channel. Some tourists traverse the area’s roads to explore the Canning Stock Route—a track that passes along the western side of the lakes along which cattle drives once took place. The Lake Gregory System is listed as a wetland of national importance due to its cultural and ecological significance, including the support of migratory and nesting birds.

Astronaut photograph ISS072-E-9997 was acquired on October 1, 2024, with a Nikon D4 digital camera using a focal length of 170 millimeters. It is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by an externally mounted camera on the ISS during Expedition 72. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. NASA Earth Observatory image (inset) by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Caption by Justin Wilkinson, Texas State University, Amentum-JETS II Contract at NASA-JSC.