File:Southern California (MODIS 2020-04-28).jpg

English: The sun was shining over the Golden State on April 23, 2020 when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image. California has long been associated with gold, whether the fields of yellow poppies that bloom each spring or the mad dash for riches in the California Gold Rush of 1948. In 1968 the state legislature voted to approve “The Golden State” as the official nickname. Despite the nickname, the predominant colors of Southern California appear as broad washes of tan and green and brown, contrasted with the blues of the Pacific Ocean and, moving inland, the Salton Sea. A broad stretch of gray pixels marks both the cities and suburbs of Los Angeles (north) and San Diego. Green colors the San Gabriel, San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains (listed from north to south). East and inland of the mountains soft tans and dark browns mark the arid Mojave Desert.