Fires in Arizona and New Mexico

Fires in Arizona and New Mexico

Northeast of Tucson, Arizona, the Aspen Fire flared up again over the weekend, prompting more evacuations in the mountains north of the city. Active fire detections are marked in red in this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image from the Aqua satellite on July 6, 2003. The fire has been burning since June 17 and has consumed about 70,000 acres. More than $10 million dollars have been spent combating the blaze, which was still only 55 percent contained as of July 5, 2003. The high-resolution image shows smoke mixed with clouds across the state line in New Mexico, to the east.

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