This false-color image creates a dramatic contrast between vegetation (green) that was spared by the Wedge Canyon Fire in northwest Montana and the burned area (bright pink). This image is from the Advanced Land Imager sensor on the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite on July 29, 2003. The image uses observations made by the sensor in the Short Wave Infra-Red part of the electromagentic spectrum. These wavelengths of light aren't visible to the human eye.
The scar stretches over the thin blue ribbon of the Flathead River, which runs diagonally from top center to right center edge. At the time this image was acquired, the southwest perimeter of the fire appears most active, with a thick cloud of smoke rising from the fire. Hot spots along the perimeter appear bright orange. The Wedge Canyon Fire is one of three large fires burning in the mountainous terrain of northwestern Montana near Glacier National Park.
Image courtesy Lawrence Ong, EO-1 Mission Science Office and the EO-1 Team at GSFC/NASA and EDC/USGS
