Fires in Northern California

Fires in Northern California

In the Klamath Mountains of Northern California, several large fires were burning in early August 2006. When the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite passed overhead on August 3, it captured this image of smoke-filled skies over the area. Places where MODIS detected actively burning fires are outlined in red. According to the National Interagency Fire Center report from August 4, the Uncles Complex Fire was 7,000 acres and about 10 percent contained, while the Orleans Complex was 4,276 acres and about 5 percent contained. To the south, the Panther Fire was 520 acres and 75 contained, while the Hunter Fire was estimated at 5,501 acres and 35 percent contained.

The high-resolution image provided above has a spatial resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at additional resolutions.

NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center