Fires in Arizona and New Mexico

Fires in Arizona and New Mexico

As of July 14, 2004, the Willow Fire in Arizona, northeast of Phoenix, was nearly 95 percent contained at 119,000 acres. This high-resolution image of the fire was captured by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite on July 3, 2004. The area burned by the blaze makes a purplish-charcoal shape in image center, while the actively flaming parts of the fire’s southeastern perimeter appear bright pink. Vegetation is bright green. This false color composite combines infrared, near-infrared, and red wavelengths (ASTER bands 4, 3, and 2).

Image by Jesse Allen, based on data from the US-Japan ASTER Science Team.