Fires in Southern California

Fires in Southern California

Fires in the San Bernadino Mountains, driven by Santa Ana winds, burned out of control Sunday morning when these images were taken from the International Space Station (ISS) at roughly 11 a.m. PST. Thick yellow smoke blows south, blanketing the valley below. This photgraph, looking southeast, captures the smoke pall as the ISS approached and passed over the region. Lake Arrowhead is the reservoir near the left edge of the photograph.

A mosaic comprised of several photogaphs shows the breadth of the fires. A small break in the smoke near the center of the images marks Cajon pass. The mosaic contains photographs ISS007-E-18086, ISS007-E-18087, and ISS007-E-18088.

Astronaut photograph ISS007-E-18088 was taken October 26, 2003 at approximately 19:54 GMT with a Kodak DCS760 digital camera equipped with a 400mm lens. Content was provided by JSC’s Earth Observation Lab. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.