The Proof: Hiding in plain sight: the challenge of scale and perspective

From ground level, the scablands are a ragged and puzzling landscape. The massive scale of the flood features -braided channels, vast coulees, extinct waterfalls, ripple marks, huge "erratic" boulders, and more--and their location in a dry region, with no apparent source for a huge volume of water, made them difficult for observers to see. Topographical maps and aerial photography helped to provide better perspective, and when photographs eventually were taken from space, the nature of the landscape and the truly stupendous scale of the floods was revealed.