Water Pours Into Australia’s Lake Eyre

Lake Eyre (also called Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre) sits in the heart of the Australian outback, the continent’s most arid area. Receiving an average of 140 millimeters (5.5 inches) of rain each year, the lake is a dry, salty plain much of the time. But every once in a while, it transforms into an expansive inland sea.

Approximately one-sixth of the Australian continent drains toward Lake Eyre, rather than to an ocean. Water often evaporates before it makes it there, although some will end up in the lake every few years. In 2025, extreme autumn rainfall in Queensland flooded several rivers that flow toward Lake Eyre. Since late March, these floodwaters have been coursing hundreds of kilometers through the desert.

Around the start of May, water arrived at Lake Eyre—and then kept coming. This animation, composed of 16 images acquired with the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Terra satellite, shows Lake Eyre’s evolution from April 29 to June 12. The images are false-color to emphasize the presence of water.

During this period, water can be seen entering the north side of the basin and expanding to cover larger areas every few days. Within weeks, water had reached Madigan Gulf and Belt Bay at the southern part of the lake, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) away. At more than 15 meters (49 feet) below sea level, these bays are the lowest points on the continent and the lake’s deepest areas.

This year’s flood is shaping up to be quite the spectacle—possibly on a scale not seen since 1974, local observers say. That was the last time Lake Eyre filled to capacity, and it reached a record depth of 6 meters (20 feet) that year.

Optimism around a complete fill in 2025 abounds, but rangers and area business owners told news outlets they do not anticipate it will quite reach that point. The lake has only filled completely three times in the past 160 years. Rainfall in Queensland and river flow through Channel Country were extraordinarily high earlier in the year, and cooler temperatures may help keep evaporation rates in check, some think. But two consecutive wet years may be needed for a chance at a full lake, locals say.

Regardless of where the lake level peaks, the influx of water brings with it a profusion of wildlife. The eggs of brine shrimp, which can remain dormant for years in dry soil, hatch. Shield shrimp and freshwater crabs, also with adaptations for the unique environment, emerge. Fish that breed in the river systems come down into the lake, and the newly formed oasis and veritable buffet attract millions of migratory waterbirds. Pelicans, banded stilts, and many other species are known to flock to the area from as far away as China and Japan.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Wanmei Liang, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Lindsey Doermann.

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