Wildfires in the Dominican Republic

The spread of the forest fire in Valle Nuevo National Park near Costanza, Dominican Republic that started nearly two weeks ago was considerably contained by August 5, 2014, according to the Environment Ministry. An appeal by the Dominican government to the United States for assistance was answered with funds and equipment. The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft captured this thermal infrared view of the region on August 5, 2014. Active hot spots of the fire are shown in yellow, healthy vegetation is depicted in red, and the burned areas are dark gray. The image is located at 18.8 degrees north, 70.7 degrees west, and covers an area of 12.1 by 12.7 miles (19.5 by 20.4 kilometers).

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Colby Fire Anaglyph

On January 16, 2014, dry conditions and warm winter temperatures in California permitted embers from a campfire in the hills above Glendora, California, to grow into a large wildfire that claimed several homes, caused mandatory evacuations of about 2,000 people, and sent smoke and ash across the Los Angeles Basin, prompting an air quality alert by public health officials. The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument aboard NASA's Terra spacecraft passed over the region at 10:45 a.m. on January 16, about five hours after the fire was first reported.

This set of images of the Colby Fire shows a natural color rendering (Figure 1) from MISR's vertical-viewing (nadir) camera. Winds carried the smoke out over the Pacific Ocean to at least 118 miles (190 kilometers) from the inland fire location. Combining the MISR nadir image with a view acquired at 46 degrees off of nadir, a stereoscopic "anaglyph" image is generated, giving a 3-D view of the plume when viewed with red/blue glasses (red filter over the left eye). To give the stereoscopic effect, this image is rotated so that North is at the left. A computer-processed height field is shown in Figure 2, indicating that smoke was elevated to a height of about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers), contributing to the widespread dispersal of the airborne particulates. The results of this analysis also place the areal coverage of the smoke and ash at about 3,860 square miles (10,000 square kilometers).

These data were collected on orbit 74901 of the Terra spacecraft (path 41, MISR blocks 63-64).

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team

Note: For more information, see PIA17923: NASA's Terra Spacecraft Images Destructive Colby Fire East of Los Angeles.

Wildfire Scars in New South Wales, Australia

October 2013 brought the worst fires seen in Australia's New South Wales in many decades. More than 100 wildfires burned. One of the largest was the Hall Road fire, southwest of Sydney, west of the town of Wollongong. The fire scar is seen in this satellite image acquired November 14, 2013, by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft. Vegetation is displayed in shades of red, burned areas are dark gray, water is black and blue, and urban areas are blue-gray. The image covers an area of 20 by 24 miles (33 by 39 kilometers), and is located at 34.3 degrees south latitude, 150.7 degrees east longitude.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Wildfires in the Blue Mountains

A mild winter and an extremely hot September in Australia have led to an early start to the fire season Down Under. A number of significant bush fires continue to rage in the Blue Mountains to the west and north of Sydney, the most populous city in the country, with nearly 4.6 million people. The ongoing fires have led to the announcement of a state of emergency for the area, and days of high temperatures and strong winds have exacerbated the situation.

The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft passed over the region around 11:00 a.m. AEDT (00:00 UTC) on October 20, 2013. This stereo anaglyph is a composite of images from two of MISR's nine cameras; the nadir (0°) camera is shown in the blue/green channels and the Ba (45.6° aft) camera is shown in the red channel. The images have been rotated clockwise so that north is to the right and west is toward the top. The anaglyph can be viewed with standard red/blue 3D glasses with the red lens over the left eye.

Sydney itself is in the bottom center of the image, with much of its area covered by a thin cloud of smoke. The Blue Mountains rise about 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) above sea level, and analysis of the MISR data shows that the plume extending over the city is at an altitude of just over 1 mile (2 kilometers). On this date, the winds were relatively light and the temperature was around 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius). The fires to the north have plumes that are somewhat lower in altitude.

The image extends from about 32.35 degrees south to 34.8 degrees south and 149.1 degrees east to 151.8 degrees east, covering about 168 miles (270 kilometers) in the north-south direction and 158 miles (255 kilometers) in the east-west direction. The images are a portion of the data acquired during Terra orbit 73608 from blocks 116 to 118 within World Reference System-2 path 90.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team

Argentine Wildfires

Wildfires have struck the Cordoba province of northern Argentina, caused by high temperatures and strong winds. The large fire, which began on September 9, 2013, spread to more than 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares), destroyed numerous homes, and led to the evacuation of several villages. This image, acquired on September 22, 2013 by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft, shows the extent of the burned area in black. Healthy vegetation, like forests and farm land, is depicted in red. The image covers an area of 19 by 30 miles (30 by 49 kilometers), and is located near 32.1 degrees south latitude, 64.8 degrees west longitude.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

The Spread of Western Wildfire Pollution

A new movie produced with data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA's Aqua spacecraft shows the spread of carbon monoxide pollution across North America from fires in the Western U.S., including the Beaver Creek Fire in Idaho and the Rim Fire in California. The movie shows carbon monoxide concentrations at altitude 18,000 feet (5.5 kilometers) as measured by AIRS.

About AIRS
The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, AIRS, in conjunction with the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit, AMSU, senses emitted infrared and microwave radiation from Earth to provide a three-dimensional look at Earth's weather and climate. Working in tandem, the two instruments make simultaneous observations all the way down to Earth's surface, even in the presence of heavy clouds. With more than 2,000 channels sensing different regions of the atmosphere, the system creates a global, three-dimensional map of atmospheric temperature and humidity, cloud amounts and heights, greenhouse gas concentrations, and many other atmospheric phenomena. Launched into Earth orbit in 2002, the AIRS and AMSU instruments fly onboard NASA's Aqua spacecraft and are managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., under contract to NASA. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Video credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Silver Fire, New Mexico

Lightning ignited the Silver Fire in western New Mexico on June 7, 2013. It has since consumed more than 137,000 acres of timber in a rugged area of the Gila National Forest that has not seen large fires for nearly a century. On the morning of June 28, as the fire exploded in intensity, NASA's Terra spacecraft passed over the fire, allowing the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory-built Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument on Terra to capture this image of extensive smoke. Two large pulses of fire generated pyro-cumulonimbus clouds. Brownish smoke, visible to the northwest of the active fire area, has entered the lower stratosphere. An active pulse of fire at the eastern end of this smoke is seen to be forming a new pyro-cumulonimbus tower that rises to a height of more than 8.7 miles (14 kilometers).

MISR views every scene it passes over from nine different angles. This unique design allows it to measure cloud and aerosol heights and the speed that smoke is moving due to horizontal wind using stereoscopic techniques. The plots in Figure 1 show the height of Silver Fire smoke along a line marked by the red arrow in the image. The profile crosses both smoke clouds, which rise to almost 9.3 miles (15 kilometers) in altitude above sea level (ASL). The lower plot shows the wind speeds retrieved by MISR in the direction across the image swath and in the direction along the satellite track.

These data were acquired during Terra orbit 71959.

Photo credit: NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team

Carstens, California Wildfire

The Carstens, California, wildfire continues to burn in the foothills west of Yosemite National Park. As of June 21, 2013, the fire had consumed 1,660 acres, and was 70 percent contained. In this image, acquired by the Advanced Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft, vegetation is displayed in green and burned and bare areas are dark to light gray. The data were acquired on June 20, 2013, and cover an area of 16 by 24 miles (26 by 39 kilometers).

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

3D View of Siding Spring Observatory Wildfire

In mid-January, 2013, a massive wildfire damaged Australia's largest optical astronomy facility, the Siding Spring Observatory, causing significant damage. All of the workers were safely evacuated, but five buildings, including a visitors' center and lodge, were badly damaged. The facility remains closed while the extent of damage is assessed. Australia has suffered both its hottest summer on record, and a devastating wildfire season. This was one of numerous large fires that have devastated the country.

This 3-D perspective view image was created from data acquired February 4, 2013, by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft. The image is located near 31.2 degrees south latitude, 149 degrees east longitude.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

The Waldo Canyon Fire

The Waldo Canyon Fire, west of Colorado Springs, Colo., is being called the worst fire in Colorado history. Since its onset on June 23, 2012, the fire has consumed more than 18,000 acres and hundreds of homes. Containment of the fire is expected by July 6. In this image, acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft on July 4, healthy vegetation is red, water is dark blue, streets and buildings are gray, and the burned areas are black. The image covers an area of 9.3 by 12.1 miles (15 by 18 kilometers) and is located at 36.9 degrees north latitude, 104.9 degrees west longitude.

Photo credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Texas Wildfires

The Livermore and Spring Ranch fires near the Davis Mountains Resort, Texas, burned 13,000 and 11,000 acres respectively. The fires started on April 21, 2012, by dry lightning. By May 12, when this image from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft was acquired, both fires were contained, and management had been turned over to local authorities. The image shows healthy vegetation in red, burned areas in black, and bare ground in blue-gray and yellow-tan. The image covers an area of 13.6 by 17.8 miles (22 by 28.5 kilometers) and is located at 30.7 degrees north latitude, 104.2 degrees west longitude.

Photo credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team