Laguna de la Laja, Chile January 1997. Laguna de la Laja is the sinuous dark feature in the middle of this color infrared image of the Andes range east of Los Angeles, Chile. From a hydroelectric generating station at the southwest end of the reservoir, Rio Laja flows westward down a broad valley cut through the Andes. The rough-textured, dark, arcuate feature at the south end of the reservoir is a large lava field. The amount of vegetative cover differs dramatically between the east and the west slopes of the Andes. This image illustrates the “rain shadow effect” where moisture-bearing westerly winds off the Pacific cross the mountains and produce well-watered, densely forested western slopes (deeper red indicates heavier vegetation). The eastern slopes receive less moisture and are less vegetated, thus the gradation from deep red to lighter pink from west to east across the color infrared image. The dark, U-shaped feature in the bottom right corner is Lago Agrio and the lighter colored feature immediately west of this lake is Copahue Volcano.
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