Ten Years of Global Fire Observations From Space

Friday, November 4, 2011

NASA recently released a series of new satellite data visualizations that show tens of millions of fires detected worldwide from space since 2002. The visualizations show fire observations made by the MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS, instruments onboard NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites.

The short video below takes viewers on a narrated global tour of fires detected between July 2002 and July 2011. The fire data is combined with satellite views of vegetation and snow cover to show how fires relate to seasonal changes. The Terra and Aqua satellites were launched in 1999 and 2002, respectively.




For more information on this project, please click here.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

1 comment

Bruce Gross said...

Interesting how the vegetation varies, I assume based on drought and rainfall. The vegetation seems not to be affected by the fires, year to year.
I have noticed that wildfires in Colorado burn both the underbrush and the trees. The very next year, the underbrush grows and is nice and green. but the trees remain black. The area becomes an eyesore for years. That is why I'm against allowing wildfires to burn themselves out as a part of "natural events".

Bruce