The data set contains surface scans from a salt desert showing salt polygons at the surface. The data set characterizes the patterned surface of the salt deserts and is used together with other data sets (which characterize the environmental conditions and subsurface of the deserts) to explain the driving mechanism of salt polygon growth in salt deserts.For every site, the raw point cloud from the scanner is uploaded. Additionally, subsets of the raw point clouds (squares) were extracted and transformed onto a regular grid and are also available here.Measurements were conducted for 21 sites at Owens Lake and 5 sites at Badwater Basin - both Central California. All data was recorded during two field campaigns in November / December 2016 and January 2018.Related to this data are also- grain size distributions of sand samples taken at the field sites at different depths (see data at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.910996),- pictures and videos characterizing the sites (see data at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.911054),- salinity profiles from cross-sections below polygons and background salt concentration measurements (see data at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.922264),- temperature and humidity time-series measured during one week in late 2016 (see data at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.922231),- and a chemical characterization of the salt species present in the crust (see data at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.911239).