Fires Flare up in Portugal and Spain

Scorching temperatures and hot winds were making the job of firefighters on the Iberian Peninsula extremely difficult in early October 2005.

Several large and smoky wildfires were burning across Spain and Portugal in the hot, dry conditions of early October 2005. This image of the fires (outlined in red) was collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite on October 6, 2005. Portugal has been plagued with devastating wildfires this season, particularly in July and August. Much of the Iberian Peninsula has experienced severe drought and higher-than-normal temperatures this year. The high-resolution image provided above has a spatial resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at additional resolutions.

Metadata

  • Sensor

    Terra/MODIS

  • Start Date

    2005-01-06

  • Event Start Date

    2005-10-01

  • NH Image ID

    13188

  • NH Event ID

    10784

  • NH Posting Date

    2005-10-06