File:Clear Skies over South America (MODIS).jpg

English: On June 19, 2023, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of a clear-sky view of a portion of South America. A portion of four countries is captured in this image and a wide range of ecosystems, from the Pacific Coast to the Amazon Rainforest.

In the southwest, marine stratocumulus clouds cover the Pacific Ocean and creeps over the dry coastal plain of both Peru (north) and Chile (south). Nearby, but at much higher elevation, Lake Titicaca is visible. Sitting in the Andes Mountains at a surface elevation of 3,812 m (12,507 ft), Lake Titicaca borders both Peru (west) and Bolivia. A small bank of cloud hugs the eastern slope of the Andes, which is a much moister and greener ecosystem that the semi-arid land west of the mountain peaks.

Moving to the east, a group of mud-colored lakes sit in the Bolivian Yungas, a heavily-forested ecoregion in the lowlands of the Andes. The largest tan-tinted lake is Lake Rogagua. It is one of the lakes known as “lagos cuadrados” (square lakes) because of their shape. This group of lakes, each only a few meters deep, are oriented in the same direction with their long axes positioned northeast to southwest.

The highlands of the Amazon Rainforest are found to the north and the northeast of the Bolivian Yungas. Brazil covers most of the northeast section of the image, and is covered with a few clouds. Once covered with dark green rainforest, both Bolivia and Brazil show the effects of deforestation. Much of the light green seen in this area mark areas where the rainforest has been cut or burned to make way for agriculture or other use.