When a thin layer of water covers its surface, Uyuni’s salar can reflect the sky like a huge mirror. This Bolivian expanse is the salty remnant of an ancient lake system, and its particularly flat surface explains part of its visual power.
The NASA article highlights a lesser known use: scientists are interested in this terrain to calibrate satellite altimeters, instruments that measure the altitude of surfaces. What attracts the eye can also help to check a measurement.
However, the plain is not perfectly uniform, and the mirror is not permanent. The water conditions change the appearance of the place. The unusual thing is this double look at the same landscape: where a photographer seeks to erase the separation between sky and earth, a scientist instead seeks to determine their distance with precision.
What we know
The mirror effect depends on the conditions. The mining data from the 2019 article is not used as the current economic balance sheet.
To go to the source
References consulted on September 20, 2026. Linked pages may be in another language.
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