Hundreds
of salt lakes are sprinkled across the landscape of northern and western
Australia. Most, including Lake Mackay, fill infrequently via seasonal rainfall
that runs off of nearby lands and through minor drainage channels.
Lake
Mackay is Australia's fourth largest lake—encompassing 4,737 square kilometers
(1,829 square miles) along the border between Western Australia and Northern
Territory. The image above, acquired on September 19, 2010, by the Advanced
Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra
satellite, shows about a quarter of the lake area. Dark areas indicate desert
vegetation or algae, moisture within the soils, and the low elevations where
water pools. Light browns indicate areas of higher elevation that occasionally
form islands.
So,
how deep is the water? That depends on when you measure. When full, some of the
deeper lakes in the region can be several meters deep. Shallower lakes are less
than 50 centimeters (20 inches) deep. The depth of Lake Mackay is uncertain,
but is thought to be somewhere between the two extremes.
Water can persist in Lake Mackay for at least six
months after a flood; when it does, the ephemeral lake provides an important
habitat and breeding area for shorebirds and waterbirds. For example,
researchers spotted at least 4,400 young banded stilts during an aerial survey
of the wetlands in 2001
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