Flying on board NASAs Terra
satellite, the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)
provides daily global coverage of wild fires such as these fires,
indicated with red outlines, in California. MODIS detects such a wide
range of electromagnetic energy that it can detect the heat from fires
as well as make a true-color image of the area, as in this image made
from data collected on Wednesday, August 29, 2001. The image takes in
the forest-covered Coastal Mountain ranges as well as the Sierra Nevada
range along the California-Nevada border. To the southeast, the mountains
give way to Death Valley and the Mojave Desert at the lower right.
MODISs thermal detectors are so sensitive that they can locate fires
even through a thick shroud of smoke, like that being emitted by the
9500-acre Star Fire, burning west of Lake Tahoe in the center of the
image. The Star Fire, which is burning in the El Dorado and Tahoe
National Forests, started on the morning of August 25, and has resulted
in numerous road and area closures as well as public health advisories
due to deteriorating air quality. According to U.S. Forest Service
reports, the cause of the firestill only about 12 percent containedis under
investigation.
Northwest across the Sacramento Valley, whose irrigated lands are
bordered by a browner, more arid perimeter, about 1,000 residents of the
town of Weaverville were forced to evacuate early on Wednesday, August
29, due to the 1,680-acre Oregon Fire, located in the upper left of the
image. Residents were allowed to return that evening, but at least nine
homes had been destroyed in the blaze, which is currently about 65 percent
contained.
Southeast of the Star Fire, in Yosemite National Park, several
lightning-caused fires totaling almost 7,000 acres and known as the
Hoover Complex, are being allowed to burn in an effort to return
wildland fire to its natural role in Yosemite, according to park reports
from August 29.
Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC