The smoke plume from fires in southeast Australia was 300 kilometers (186 miles) wide in places and more than 877 kilometers (545 miles) long on February 4, 2003. Fires have been burning out of control in the region for several weeks, even invading urban areas such as Canberra, the nation’s capital. This true-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image was captured by the Aqua satellite.
The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS’ maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters.
Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
