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Astronauts onboard the International Space Station often observe small, otherwise unnoticed water bodies on the ground due to their unusual colors. For example, the Little Blue Run Dam and reservoir is located in western Pennsylvania, just south of the Ohio River. It is owned by Pennsylvania Power Company and used for industrial sludge impoundment. The materials suspended in the water give it a striking, turquoise color. Another lake with color linked to commercial activity is Lake Gribben, located to the southeast of Ishpeming in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Iron ore is extracted from the Tilden/Empire Mine complex visible to the north of the lake.

Images ISS004-E-10472 (Little Blue Run, April 4, 2002) and ISS004-E-10319 (Gribben, April 22, 2002) were provided by the Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory at Johnson Space Center. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA-JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.