The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission has snapped a souvenir of the Burning Man festival in the Black Rock desert in Nevada.

Covering about 2600 sq km, the Black Rock Desert is an arid region of lava beds and alkali flats in northwestern Nevada. The picture, acquired on 26 August 2024, captures the white, sandy area in the southwestern part of the desert, where the Burning Man festival takes place annually.

Over 70,000 people gathered from 25 August to 2 September at Black Rock for the desert-based event. This image, taken from orbit on the second day of the event, shows the area of camper vans and tents grouped together for the week-long art and self-expression festival, which involves music, stunning art installations, experimental and interactive sculptures, and art cars, among others.

The name comes from its culminating ceremony, featuring the symbolic burning of a large wooden effigy, referred to as the Man, located at the dead center of this temporary settlement.

Like most of Nevada, the Black Rock Desert lies within the Great Basin Desert, the largest in the US, covering an arid expanse of some 492,000 sq km. The Great Basin is noted for its internal drainage system, in which precipitation never reaches an outlet to the sea.

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