Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat. It is located in the Potosi and Oruro departments in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes and is at an elevation of 3656 meters above mean sea level. The Salar de Uyuni was created when a prehistoric lake dried up and left a salty crust behind. When it rains, the salty crust becomes a giant mirror. The large area, clear skies, and the exceptional flatness of the surface make the Salar an ideal object for calibrating the altimeters of Earth observation satellites. Salar de Uyuni is also climatological transitional zone since the towering tropical cumulus congestus and cumulus incus clouds that form in the eastern part of the salt flat during the summer cannot permeate beyond its drier western edges, near the Chilean border and the Atacama Desert.
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