A shroud of cloud pulled away from Ireland as NASA’s Terra passed overhead on April 15, 2020, allowing the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board to acquire a true-color image of the Emerald Island under a clear sky.

Intense green vegetation, primarily grassland, covers most of the country except for the exposed rock on mountaintops. Ireland owes its greenness to moderate temperatures and moist air. The Atlantic Ocean, particularly the warm currents in the North Atlantic Drift, gives the country a more temperate climate than most others at the same latitude.

Along Ireland’s west coast, bare brown rocks emerge from the plant cover. In the north, the rocks are primarily ancient, crystalline rocks deposited well over a billion years ago. In the south, the rocks are primarily sandstone deposited roughly 350 million years ago.

Red hot-spots near the central eastern coast mark several fires burning in county Wicklow. According to local media, the Wicklow Mountain area have been under an orange forest fire warning as extensive wildfires sweep across several areas. The Irish Wildfire Trust reported that a massive, illegal wildfire had swept through the Wicklow Mountains Special Area of Conservation (SAC) from April 15 – 16. The Irish Air Corps tweeted that they had made 16 drops of water on fires in the area on April 16, with a total of 19,200 liters. Most of the fires have been associated with illegal burning of upland vegetation.

Image Facts

Satellite: Terra

Date Acquired: 4/15/2020

Resolutions: , ,

Bands Used:

Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC