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May 31, 2025 - Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre Fills Up
May 30, 2025
May 2, 2025
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Located south of the scorchingly dry Simpson Desert in Australia’s remote Outback, modern Lake Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre exists as a salt-encrusted, mostly barren playa. White mineral deposits, which lie in the lowest natural point in Australia, are all that remains of a large inland sea that stretched across the Outback roughly 100,000 years ago.
Even though the modern lake remains parched and salt-covered most of the time, it remains the lowest point of the Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre Basin, and thus is the final destination for any water that falls within that basin. From time to time, heavy rains send water rolling down a series of rivers, creeks, and otherwise-dry channels that cut through vast flood plains. In years with exceptional rain, water may flow into the lake itself, bringing moisture into Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre. Sometimes, the water level rises enough to create a true lake once again—although never to the extent of the ancient inland sea.
According to South Australia’s National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre has filled to modern capacity (completely covering the mineral coating) just three times in the past 160 years. Partial fills happen more frequently but are less spectacular. By early May 2025, the lake began to fill with water, thanks to a very wet summer and fall, capped by exceptional rains and flooding starting in March 2025. The results have been spectacular, according to local reports, with hopes for a “full fill” this year.
On May 30, 2025, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this false-color image of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre filling with fresh water from the earlier floods to the north. In this type of image, water looks blue, with deeper water appearing deeper blue and shallow water looking lighter. Highly reflective surfaces, such as mineral salts, show up as pale electric blue. In addition, open land looks tan while vegetation appears green. This image makes it clear that deeper water has reached two southern lobes of the main body of the lake, although the far southern tip remains dry and covered in salt.
The May 30 image has been paired with a second Aqua MODIS image acquired on May 2, just as water was flowing into the channels to the northeast of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre but had not yet reached the lake. To compare, simply click on the dates below the images.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 5/30/2025
Resolutions:
1km (143.1 KB), 500m (334.5 KB), 250m (186.8 KB)
Bands Used: 7,2,1
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
May 30, 2025 May 2, 2025
Located south of the scorchingly dry Simpson Desert in Australia’s remote Outback, modern Lake Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre exists as a salt-encrusted, mostly barren playa. White mineral deposits, which lie in the lowest natural point in Australia, are all that remains of a large inland sea that stretched across the Outback roughly 100,000 years ago.
Even though the modern lake remains parched and salt-covered most of the time, it remains the lowest point of the Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre Basin, and thus is the final destination for any water that falls within that basin. From time to time, heavy rains send water rolling down a series of rivers, creeks, and otherwise-dry channels that cut through vast flood plains. In years with exceptional rain, water may flow into the lake itself, bringing moisture into Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre. Sometimes, the water level rises enough to create a true lake once again—although never to the extent of the ancient inland sea.
According to South Australia’s National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre has filled to modern capacity (completely covering the mineral coating) just three times in the past 160 years. Partial fills happen more frequently but are less spectacular. By early May 2025, the lake began to fill with water, thanks to a very wet summer and fall, capped by exceptional rains and flooding starting in March 2025. The results have been spectacular, according to local reports, with hopes for a “full fill” this year.
On May 30, 2025, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this false-color image of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre filling with fresh water from the earlier floods to the north. In this type of image, water looks blue, with deeper water appearing deeper blue and shallow water looking lighter. Highly reflective surfaces, such as mineral salts, show up as pale electric blue. In addition, open land looks tan while vegetation appears green. This image makes it clear that deeper water has reached two southern lobes of the main body of the lake, although the far southern tip remains dry and covered in salt.
The May 30 image has been paired with a second Aqua MODIS image acquired on May 2, just as water was flowing into the channels to the northeast of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre but had not yet reached the lake. To compare, simply click on the dates below the images.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 5/30/2025
Resolutions:
1km (143.1 KB), 500m (334.5 KB), 250m (186.8 KB)
Bands Used: 7,2,1
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
