On April 18th, most of the ice on Lake Balkhash has melted, with remnants primarily in the western half. Sediment, carried by spring runoff, causes the turbulent appearance and tan color of the ice-free lake. These images were acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites. By mid-April 2000, the lake was completely ice free, as shown by an image from the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS).