NASA Images of California Wildfires

For links to information from all levels of government on the fires and assistance being provided to evacuees, visit this page from usa.gov:

http://www.usa.gov/californiafires.shtml



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The extent of San Diego's Witch fire, the most destructive of the recent spate of wildfires in Southern California, is graphically depicted in this November 6 false-color image from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer on NASA's Terra spacecraft. Vegetation is shown in green, burned areas in dark red and urban areas in blue.The fires that ravaged Southern California in late October 2007 have left an indelible mark on the community and the landscape.This image, obtained by NASA’s Terra satellite on November 6, shows the burn scar left by the Poomacha Fire. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, this blaze has burned nearly 50,000 acres and is one of the last fires that has not yet been fully contained.The scorched areas appear as a bright pink or red color, while the bare, dry land is a lighter pink and vegetation is bright green.Related link:On October 31, NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this remarkable image of Southern California, showing the burn scars left behind after wildfires devastated the area.This image, made using visible and infrared light, shows the extent of the fires over the landscape. The charred areas appear red, unburned vegetation is bright green and bare earth is a tan color.Over the past two weeks the fires have burned more than 500,000 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.Two fires were still burning in Southern California as of November 5, the Santiago and the Poomacha fires. Despite weaker than predicted winds, firefighters were not able to fully contain the blazes over the weekend as they had initially predicted.The National Weather Service is forecasting little to no wind to affect the area over the upcoming week. Fire officials say they expect full containment of the fires by the end of this coming weekend.Related Link:NASA satellites captured new images of the scorched Southern California landscape on October 26, 2007. These pictures were obtained by NASA’s Terra (left image) and Aqua (right image) satellites at 2:55 p.m. EDT and at 4:35 p.m. EDT respectively. They show several fires still burning in Southern California. Smoke from these blazes blanket the region.According to news reports, favorable weather conditions have allowed firefighters to gain ground against several of the massive fires that caused extensive damage and destruction to Southern California throughout the past week.The National Interagency Fire Center reports that the cooler temperatures and increased humidity forecasted for the area today should help firefighters to contain the remaining blazes.As of October 29, the number of fires not yet contained was down to nine, which allowed hundreds of thousands of residents to return to their homes after massive evacuations.While the fires are coming under control, the smoke they have produced remains a concern. The Air Pollution Control District of San Diego County reports that smoke from these blazes, visible in the above images, has lead to unhealthy air quality levels.These visualizations display data acquired by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) onboard NASA's EO-1 satellite. Shortwave infrared surface radiation indicates actively burning areas, which appear bright orange-red to yellow in these images. The left image was captured October 23, and the right was captured October 25.A thick haze of smoke has settled over the southern California region where massive wildfires have been burning since October 21st. NASA satellites captured new images of the fire-ravaged area as they passed overhead on Oct. 25, 2007.The first image was acquired by NASA's Terra satellite at 2:15 p.m. EDT. NASA’s Aqua satellite obtained another image of the affected area just over three hours later at 5:30 p.m. EDT.According to news reports, the Santa Ana winds that fueled these massive wildfires have all but died out, and relatively calm weather patterns are taking hold in the area.These favorable weather conditions have allowed firefighters to begin to contain some of the larger fires. The National Interagency Fire Center reported that as of yesterday the largest and most devastating blaze, the Witch fire in San Diego County, was 20 percent contained.The National Weather Service is forecasting winds to continue to weaken though tomorrow, with gusts not to exceed 25 mph. Earlier this week winds reached nearly 70 mph. Rising humidity and falling temperatures are also aiding firefighters.NASA's Ikhana unmanned research aircraft flew over several of the Southern California wildfires Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 24-25, with its sophisticated thermal-infrared imaging equipment peering through smoke and haze to record high-quality imagery of the hot spots. A third flight is planned for today.The imagery is processed on board, downlinked and overlaid on Google Earth maps at NASA Ames Research Center in Northern California, and then made by the National Interagency Fire Center to incident commanders in the field to aid them in allocating their fire-fighting resources. The mission was controlled by pilots remotely from a ground control station at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base.Thermal-infrared imaging sensors on NASA's Ikhana unmanned research aircraft recorded this image of the Grass Valley / Slide Fire near Lake Arrowhead / Running Springs in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California just before noon Oct. 25. The 3-D processed image is a colorized mosaic of images draped over terrain, looking east. Active fire is seen in yellow, while hot, previously burned areas are in shades of dark red and purple. Unburned areas are shown in green hues.Thermal-infrared imaging sensors on NASA's Ikhana unmanned research aircraft acquired this image at 2:24 p.m. PDT Oct. 25 over the Harris Fire in San Diego County in Southern California. The colorized image is a mosaic of images looking south, draped over the terrain and shown in 3D. The active wildfire fronts are in yellow and red, while hot, previously burned areas are in shades of dark red and purple. Unburned areas are shown in green hues.NASA's EO-1 satellite has been called into action to image wildfire areas in Southern California using the Hyperion spectrometer instrument which observes 220 contiguous wavelengths of data spanning the spectrum from visible light to shortwave infrared. In the left data visualization, you can see a composite of the red, blue, and green channels of data giving an accurate representation of the scene as the human eye would see it. But in the right data visualization, using three of the shortwave infrared channels, EO-1's Hyperion cut through the billowing smoke to give a better view of the burning fires located below.These images were collected on October 23, 2007 and show the area around the Witch Wildfire located just south of Escondido, California. NASA will continue to provide satellite imagery to a variety of wildfire agencies around the country working with the National Interagency Fire Center.Additionally, NASA's Ikhana unmanned aircraft system is flew over several of the major Southern California wildfires Thursday, capturing thermal-infrared imagery to aid firefighters battling those blazes.Ikhana, a General Atomics' Predator B modified for civil science and research missions, took off about 9:15 a.m. PDT from its base at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base on what is expected to be a nine-hour mission.Passing over Southern California at 3:10 p.m. on October 24, 2007, NASA's Terra satellite captured this image of the massive wildfires that have devastated the area.These startling images show the Southern California region covered in a thick blanket of smoke. Red pixels indicate fire activity. Smoke can also be seen billowing out over the Pacific Ocean.While news agencies report that the strong Santa Ana winds that fueled these fires are expected to nearly disappear soon, there are still 15 large fires burning in the region. These blazes have charred 695 square miles and destroyed 1,609 homes, with damage estimated by the state Department of Insurance at more than $1 billion.The largest fire currently burning in the area is the Witch fire in San Diego County, one mile east of Ramona. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, the blaze has burned 196,420 acres, destroying hundreds of homes, businesses, and other structures.The National Weather Service is predicting cooler temperatures and higher humidity for this area as the week progresses.Photo Credit: NASA/U.S. Forest ServiceClick on an above image for full-resolution.NASA's Ikhana unmanned research aircraft flew over several of the Southern California wildfires Wednesday, Oct. 24, with its sophisticated thermal-infrared imaging equipment peering through smoke and haze to record high-quality imagery of the hot spots. The above 3-D images were taken at 10:21 a.m. PDT over the Harris Fire in San Diego County, looking west. The hot spots (in yellow) are concentrated on the ridgeline in the left center of the photo.The imagery is processed on board, downlinked and overlaid on Google Earth maps at NASA Ames Research Center in Northern California, and then made available by the National Interagency Fire Center to incident commanders in the field to aid them in allocating their fire-fighting resources. The mission was controlled by pilots remotely from a ground control station at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base.The growth and spread of Southern California's numerous wildfires is highlighted in this animation created using visible image data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-West satellite. The animation covers the period from October 21 to October 23. Images from the satellite are available every 15 to 30 minutes. Smoke plumes from the wildfires are blown due west by powerful Santa Ana winds, drifting hundreds of miles out to sea.Play animation: + Low resolution (10Mb) NASA satellites have obtained new images of the California wildfires, illustrating the immense scale of the blazes. The National Interagency Fire Center reports that 12 large, uncontained fires have burned over 335,000 acres in Southern California. The fires have continued to spread due to the fierce, dry Santa Ana winds.These new NASA satellite images of the wildfires show the area between Los Angeles and San Diego, California. Fire activity is denoted with red pixels. Vast plumes of thick smoke can be seen blowing out over the Pacific Ocean.The first image was captured by NASA’s Terra satellite at 2:25 p.m. EST on October 23, 2007. The second image was acquired by NASA’s Aqua satellite at 5:40 p.m. EST, just over three hours later.According to the National Weather Service, a red-flag warning for extreme gusty winds is in effect for the Southern California area through 6:00 p.m. EST today. However, by Thursday, October 25th, the Santa Ana winds that have fueled the blazes should die out.The scope and extent of the strong Santa Ana wind event in Southern California the week of Oct. 21, 2007, is visible in this image from NASA's QuikScat satellite. The image, obtained at about 7 a.m. October 22, depicts the wind speed (colors) and direction (white arrows) of the strong winds blowing offshore from Southern and Baja California. Higher wind speeds are depicted in green.QuikScat, managed by JPL, measures ocean surface wind/stress by sending radar pulses to the surface and measuring the strength of the signals returned.NASA's Quick Scatterometer (QuikScat spacecraft was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on June 19, 1999. QuikScat carries the SeaWinds scatterometer, a specialized microwave radar that measures near-surface wind speed and direction under all weather and cloud conditions over the Earth's oceans. More information about the QuikScat mission and observations is available at http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/quikscat/ . QuikScat is managed for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, DC, by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA.Smoke from multiple wildfires burning in Southern California, together with dust in Southern California, Baja California and mainland Mexico, swirl out into the Pacific and Gulf of California, respectively, in this false-color visible image from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder on NASA's Aqua satellite, acquired at about 7 p.m. Eastern Time on October 22. Strong Santa Ana winds are fanning the wildfires, among the most destructive in recent memory.The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Experiment, with its visible, infrared, and microwave detectors, provides a three-dimensional look at Earth's weather. Working in tandem, the three instruments can make simultaneous observations all the way down to the 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, 3-D map of atmospheric temperature and humidity and provides information on clouds, greenhouse gases, and many other atmospheric phenomena. The AIRS Infrared Sounder Experiment flies onboard NASA's Aqua spacecraft and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., under contract to NASA. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.NASA satellites continue to capture remarkable new images of the wildfires raging in Southern California. At least 14 massive fires are reported to have scorched about 425 square miles from north of Los Angeles to southeast of San Diego.These latest images, captured by NASA satellites on the afternoon of October 22, show the thick, billowing smoke coming off the numerous large fires and spreading over the Pacific Ocean. Fire activity is outlined in red.Dry, drought-stricken vegetation and Santa Ana winds, which can reach hurricane speeds, have contributed to the devastating effect of these blazes. The National Interagency Fire Center reports that the Santa Ana winds are expected to continue through Wednesday.According to news reports, almost 700 homes have been destroyed and hundreds of thousands of residents have been forced to evacuate.Today, President Bush issued an emergency declaration for seven California counties, ordering federal disaster relief to the area.Powerful Santa Ana winds have fueled more than 10 large wildfires throughout Southern California, stretching from Santa Barbara to San Diego.This pair of images, depicting the area around Los Angeles on October 21, 2007, shows just how quickly the fires grew.The left image, captured by NASA’s Terra satellite at 11:35 a.m. local time, shows several fires giving off small plumes of smoke. Just over 3 hours later, at 2:50 p.m. when NASA’s Aqua satellite passed overhead, large amounts of smoke were pouring from blazes northwest of Los Angeles. Actively burning fires are outlined in red.In the right image plumes of smoke can be seen blowing off the coast, indicating the intensity of the winds and the presence of additional fires farther south.According to the National Interagency Fire Center, these blazes have burned over 84,000 acres since they began over the weekend. Thousands of residents have been evacuated from their homes and a state of emergency has been issued for 7 California counties.

Hot, dry Santa Ana winds began blowing through the Los Angeles and San Diego areas on Sunday October 21, 2007. Wind speeds ranging from 30 to 50 mph were measured in the area, with extremely low relative humidities. These winds, coupled with exceptionally dry conditions due to lack of rainfall resulted in a number of fires in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas, causing the evacuation of more than 250,000 people.

These two images show the Southern California coast from Los Angeles to San Diego from two of the nine cameras on the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument on the NASA EOS Terra satellite. These images were obtained around 11:35 a.m. PDT on Sunday morning, October 21, 2007 and show a number of plumes extending out over the Pacific ocean. In addition, locations identified as potential hot spots from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on the same satellite are outlined in red.

The left image is from MISR's nadir looking camera and the plumes appear very faint. The image on the right is from MISR's 60° forward looking camera, which accentuates the amount of light scattered by aerosols in the atmosphere, including smoke and dust. Both these images are false color and contain information from MISR's red, green, blue and near-infrared wavelengths, which makes vegetated land appear greener than it would naturally. Notice in the right hand image that the color of the plumes associated with the MODIS hot spots is bluish, while plumes not associated with hot spots appear more yellow. This is because the latter plumes are composed of dust kicked up by the strong Santa Ana winds. In some locations along Interstate 5 on this date, visibility was severely reduced due to blowing dust. MISR's multiangle and multispectral capability give it the ability to distinguish smoke from dust in this situation.

The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer observes the daylit Earth continuously and every 9 days views the entire globe between 82 degrees north and 82 degrees south latitude. These images were generated from a portion of the imagery acquired during Terra orbit 41713, and use data from blocks 63 to 66 within World Reference System-2 path 40.

MISR was built and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC. The Terra satellite is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. The MISR data were obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology.

NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team