22 October 2007
This Envisat image captures the smoke arising from raging wildfires burning in Los Angeles, California. Nearly a dozen wildfires driven by strong easterly winds ripped across Southern California on Sunday, killing one person and forcing thousands to evacuate their homes.

A state of emergency has been declared in seven counties hit by the blazes: Los Angeles, San Diego Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and Ventura.

Image acquired 21 October 2007 at 18:20 UTC by the MERIS (Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) instrument aboard ESA’s Envisat satellite.

Source: ESA - Observing the Earth

Southern California Wildfires Burn Out of Control: New NASA Satellite Images Show Fires' Rapid Growth

10.22.07

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.

+ View larger images above with titles (120Kb .jpg)
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Image credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response. Story credit: Laura Spector, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Source: NASA - Life On Earth - Looking At Earth

23 October 2007
This Envisat image captures fierce easterly desert winds blowing smoke from wildfires in Southern California. Gale-force winds have fed more than a dozen fires from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border since breaking out on Sunday, killing one person and forcing the evacuation of a quarter of a million people.

In the full image below, sand is visible being blown from Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula over the Gulf of California to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west.



Image acquired 22 October 2007 at 17:52 UTC by the MERIS (Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) instrument aboard ESA’s Envisat satellite while working in Full Resolution mode to provide a spatial resolution of 300 metres. MERIS images are available on ESA’s MIRAVI website, which gives access to Envisat’s most recently acquired images.

MIRAVI, short for MERIS Images RApid VIsualisation, tracks Envisat around the globe, generates images from the raw data collected by MERIS and provides them online within two hours. MIRAVI is free and requires no registration.

Source: ESA - Observing the Earth

Southern California Wildfires Burn Out of Control: New NASA Satellite Images Show Fires' Rapid Growth

10.23.07

October 23, 2007 Update


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.

+ View full resolution image (1.2Mb .jpg)

Image credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response.

Source: NASA - Life On Earth - Looking At Earth

October 23, 2007 Update


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.

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Image credit: NASA/JPL

Source: NASA - Life On Earth - Looking At Earth

October 23, 2007 Update


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.

QuikScat Background
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.

+ View larger image
Image credit: NASA/JPL

Source: NASA - Life On Earth - Looking At Earth

Those fires are bad! We just had one wild fire where I live and now we have some evacuated friends coming to live with us. It teaches some respect for the forces of nature...

Best,
Badeskov

Southern California Wildfires Burn Out of Control: New NASA Satellite Images Show Fires' Rapid Growth

10.24.07

October 24, 2007 Update


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.

+ View full resolution, top image (1.2Mb .jpg)
+ View full resolution, bottom image (1.3Mb .jpg)

Image credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response.

Source: NASA - Life On Earth - Looking At Earth

California Fires in Motion


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.

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)
+ High resolution - streaming video

Source: NASA - Life On Earth - Looking At Earth

California Wildfires Continue to Grow: NASA Images Show Fire’s Immense Size

10.24.07

October 24, 2007 Update


Photo Credit: NASA/U.S. Forest Service
Click 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.

+ Additional Ikhana Mission Images

Source: NASA - Life On Earth - Looking At Earth

California Wildfires Continue to Grow: NASA Images Show Fire’s Immense Size

10.25.07

October 25, 2007, Morning Update


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.

+ View High-Resolution Image

Source: NASA - Life On Earth - Looking At Earth

CNN News reports at least one man in custody for being observed "Starting a Fire" , then going to a local gas station to call police to report A fire.
Some kind of Thrill seeker I guess.

California Wildfires Continue to Grow: NASA Images Show Fire’s Immense Size

10.25.07

October 25, 2007, Afternoon Update


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.

+ View larger version, left image (.jpg)
+ View larger version, right image (.jpg)
Image credit: NASA/EO-1 Team

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.

+ Read Updates about NASA's Ikhana aircraft

Source: NASA - Life On Earth - Looking At Earth

those images are great thanksss

NASA Images of California Wildfires

10.25.07

October 26, 2007 Update

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.

Images credit: NASA/U.S. Forest Service

Source: NASA - Life On Earth - Looking At Earth

10.25.07

October 26, 2007, Second Update

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.

+ High-Resolution Images

Images credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response

Source: NASA - Life On Earth - Looking At Earth

NASA Images of California Wildfires

10.29.07

October 29, 2007, Morning Update



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.

+ October 23 image (higher resolution)
+ October 25 image (higher resolution)

Source: NASA - Life On Earth - Looking At Earth

10.29.07

October 29, 2007, Afternoon Update



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.

+ High-Resolution Images

Images credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response

Source: NASA - Life On Earth - Looking At Earth

On October 28, 2007, when the MODIS on NASA's Terra satellite passed over Southern California, most of the devastating blazes that had ravaged the area in the previous week appeared to have calmed. This image, made using visible and infrared light, shows the extent of the fires over the landscape.

Unburned vegetation is bright green, urban areas are gray, burned areas are brick red, and areas where MODIS detected actively burning fire are outlined in red. The bright pink glow within the fire locations is often a sign of open flame in this type of image. Both the Santiago and Poomacha Fires appeared to still be active.

Source: MODIS - Image of the Day

Burn Scars Across Southern California

Click here to view full image (1717 kb)

The explosive wildfires of October 2007 in Southern California killed several people, scorched hundreds of thousands of acres, and destroyed more than two thousand homes. Based on acres burned, two of the fires, the Witch and Harris Fires, climbed into the record books of the state’ 20 largest wildfires (based on statistics kept since the early 1930s.) In terms of structures burned, four of the October fires made the list of the top 20 largest fires: the Witch, Harris, Slide, and Rice Fires. As of November 5, 2007, nearly 1.3 million acres had burned in wildfires in Southern California. That total included the 240,000-acre Zaca Fire, which burned during July and August.

This image of Southern California, centered on Los Angeles, shows how widespread and large the October 2007 fires were. Captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite on October 31, the image is made from a combination of visible and infrared light to make burned areas (brick red) stand out from unburned vegetation (bright green). Desert or semi-arid landscapes are beige, dense urban areas are gray, and water is dark blue. Burn scars from previous seasons, such as the 2006 Sawtooth Complex Fire and the 2003 Simi Incident Fire have faded to light pink.

This type of false-color imagery helps natural resource managers begin the process of Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation (BAER). BAER teams are usually on the ground even before fires are totally contained, and their job is to evaluate the risk of further damage to life, property, or natural resources from post-fire erosion and flooding.

Although higher-resolution (more detailed) imagery is necessary for precise mapping of specific hillsides or ravines burned in a fire, the moderate level of detail that images from the MODIS sensors on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites provide is still valuable. With most satellite imagery, the higher the resolution of the image, the less area the sensor can see at once. For very large or fast-moving fires, the limited coverage means that BEAR officials might have to wait several weeks for the first high-resolution images of the entire burned area—:and several more weeks for follow-up images. The moderate-resolution MODIS images cover a wide area on a daily basis, which gives natural resource managers a first look at the situation and can help them decide which fires need to be followed up with high-resolution imagery and ground-based assessments.

To see where these fires occurred in relation to cities, towns, and natural areas, view the 250-meter resolution KMZ file with Google Earth.

References

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. (2007). 20 Largest California Wildland Fires. Accessed November 6, 2007.

Lindsey, R. (2002).Satellites Aid Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation. NASA's Earth Observatory. Accessed November 6, 2007.

Southern California Geographic Area Coordination Center. (2007). Daily situation report 11/05/07. Accessed November 6, 2007.

NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center.

Source: NASA - Earth Observatory - Image of the Day