On October 29, 2003, a shift in the winds over the Southwest U.S. sent smoke from the California wildfires (marked in red at left) northeastward to Nevada and eastward to Arizona. This Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image is from the Terra satellite on the afternoon of Oct. 29.
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
Multiple massive wildifres burned in southern California during the last week of October 2003. This series of images shows the fires and the damage they caused as seen from a variety of satellites.