Wildfires cover more than 527,000 acres in Montana along the crest of the Rocky Mountains. The 2003 fire season in the United States is on par with 2001, with roughly 3,000,000 acres burned by September 8. In contrast about 6,000,000 acres had burned by the same date in the record years of 2000 and 2002. The ten-year average is 3,800,000 acres burned from January 1st.
This true-color image of western Montana was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite on September 6, 2003. Fire locations are marked in red.
For more information, visit the National Interagency Fire Center.
Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
