English: (P-43883)

Long an area of extensive field investigation, Death Valley, California, ranges in elevation from 70 meters (230 feet) below sea level to more than 3,300 meters (10,800 feet) above sea level. A three-dimensional perspective of the valley shows Stovepipe Wells, the bright rectangle in the center of the picture, located at 37 degrees north latitude and 117 degrees west longitude. The vantage point is atop a large alluvial fan centered at the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon. Alluvial fans, visible in radar images as bright, circular areas, are gravel deposits that wash down from mountains over time. In the foreground at left are the sand dunes near Stovepipe Wells; in the background at left, the valley floor falls in elevation toward Badwater, the lowest point in the United States. Vertical exaggeration, about 1.87 times the actual relief, is used by scientists to detect relationships between structure (faults and fractures) and topography.

The smaller images show SIR-C/X-SAR's view from above Stovepipe Wells, featuring the area and nearby sand dunes at center and the Furnace Creek alluvial fan and Furnace Creek Ranch at far right. The dark area between the dunes and the fan is a smooth flood plain enclosing Cottonball Basin. This image is a SIR-C radar image; the superimposed arrow shows the vantage point and the direction of view in the three-dimensional perspective. There is also a color composite of a SIR-C image and a digital elevation map from the U.S. Geological Survey. Variations in the intensity of the radar image indicate geological features through hues of color: blue represents the lowest elevations; red–magenta represents the highest elevations. The SIR-C image was obtained on April 9, 1994, respectively, during the 8th orbit of the space shuttle Endeavour (STS-59).

SIR-C/X-SAR data from Death Valley will help answer a number of questions about how alluvial fans form and change under the influence of climatic changes and tectonic processes. Information from SIR-C/X-SAR about the fans will help scientists study Earth's ancient climate by explaining weathering processes on the fans, soil formation, and the transport of sand and dust by wind. Examining Earth's geological history in this manner may improve our ability to predict the future response of the land to potential global climate-change scenarios.