Sentinel-2 reveals the hidden colours of desert south-west Arizona, USA

Sentinel-2 MSI acquired on 16 August 2019 at 18:09:21 UTC
Author(s): Sentinel Vision team, VisioTerra, France - svp@visioterra.fr
Keyword(s): Land, hydrology, desert, reg, erosion, alluvial cones, USA, United States
Fig. 1 - S2 (16.08.2019) - 11,8,2 colour composite - SW Arizona near Yuma between what remains of Colorado (west) & Gila (south) rivers.
Fig. 2 - Variety of colours between Phoenix (south-east) and the sandy Cactus wilderness area (north-west).
While the south-west of Arizona shows mostly in shades of brown contrasted by the hydrographic network and the occasional mine, NIR & SWIR bands show a richer colour palette.
Fig. 3 - From soft transitions to stark contrasts, the painter of this scene used a lot of colours.
Fig. 4 - Zoom in on a detail where colours mesh together more smoothly while covering a large swath of the available hues.
Fig. 5 - Watershed, passes, talwegs and ridges are easy to identify amid this barren land showing in pastel colour tones.