Images
July 21, 2020 - Fires in Queensland, Australia
Follow @NASA_MODIS
Tweet
Several fires were billowing smoke in northern Queensland, Australia on July 16, 2020, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of the scene.
Each red hot spot marks an area where the thermal bands on the instrument detected high temperatures. When combined with typical smoke plumes, as in this image, such hot spots mark actively burning fire.
While satellite imagery can confirm the location and size of fires with excellent accuracy, it is not possible to determine the cause of a fire when viewed from space. The bushfire season typically begins in August in Queensland, but some fire activity can occur at any time of the year. In addition, June and July are prime months for prescribed burns. Such burns are deliberately ignited and managed, usually to reduce heavy fuel loads to minimize the effect and spread of uncontrolled bushfires.
On July 20, the Queensland Rural Fire Service’s website published eighteen Hazard Reduction Burn Notifications for July. The Queensland Government Fire and Emergency Services website also reported five active vegetation fires from July 13 – 17 as well as more than 27 structure fires across central Queensland since the beginning of May. It is likely that the fires in this image are a combination of prescribed burns and unplanned vegetation fire.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/16/2020
Resolutions:
1km (51.8 KB), 500m (136.7 KB), 250m (204 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Several fires were billowing smoke in northern Queensland, Australia on July 16, 2020, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of the scene.
Each red hot spot marks an area where the thermal bands on the instrument detected high temperatures. When combined with typical smoke plumes, as in this image, such hot spots mark actively burning fire.
While satellite imagery can confirm the location and size of fires with excellent accuracy, it is not possible to determine the cause of a fire when viewed from space. The bushfire season typically begins in August in Queensland, but some fire activity can occur at any time of the year. In addition, June and July are prime months for prescribed burns. Such burns are deliberately ignited and managed, usually to reduce heavy fuel loads to minimize the effect and spread of uncontrolled bushfires.
On July 20, the Queensland Rural Fire Service’s website published eighteen Hazard Reduction Burn Notifications for July. The Queensland Government Fire and Emergency Services website also reported five active vegetation fires from July 13 – 17 as well as more than 27 structure fires across central Queensland since the beginning of May. It is likely that the fires in this image are a combination of prescribed burns and unplanned vegetation fire.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/16/2020
Resolutions:
1km (51.8 KB), 500m (136.7 KB), 250m (204 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
