File:Southern South America (MODIS 2017-05-05).jpg

English: On April 28, 2017, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite flew over southern South America and captured a true-color image of the region.

The relatively verdant greens of the northern Gran Chaco contrast strongly with the browns, tans, and whites of the arid and rugged Andes. The Gran Chaco stretches east of the Andes and west of the Paraguay River. Covering about 250,000 sq mi (647,500 sq km), it lies mostly within Argentina, but also across Paraguay in the north and Bolivia in the northwest. Generally considered a dry region with sparse vegetation throughout its entirety, the northern section contains both shrubland and grassland, each of which appears green in this autumn image.

The eastern Andes Mountains visible in this image belong to Argentina in the south and Bolivia in the north. The very large, highly reflective, roughly oval white area in the northern Andes is the Salar de Uyuni. One part of a massive lake, it became highly saline as water evaporated over tens of thousands of years. Today the Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat, with a thick white, salty crust that overlies a moist brine. When seasonal rains come, the Salar de Uyuni attracts over 80 species of bird, including flamingo.