Multisensor Fire Observations without Labels
From space, we can understand fires in ways that are impossible from the ground. New Earth-observing satellites capture the significant impact of fires on our planet. In this animation of fires around the globe in 2002, each red dot marks a new fire. Dots change color to yellow after a few days and to black when fires burn out. From brush fires in Africa to forest fires in North America, satellites are locating every significant fire on Earth to within one kilometer. In the summer and fall burning seasons, particularly destructive fires occurred in Colorado, Arizona, and Oregon. This animation of remote sensing observations of fires and other related data was chosen as part of the SIGGRAPH 2003 Computer Animation Theater. (The only difference was that the SIGGRAPH version had shorter credits.)
Fire incidence data over North America on September 12, 2002, as measured by MODIS, shown with near surface ocean wind velocity vectors over the Pacific Ocean, as measred by the SeaWinds instrument on QuickSCAT.