September 20, 2014 - Fires in northern Australia

Fires in northern Australia

Fires continued to burn across northern Australia on September 14, 2014, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite captured this true-color image.

Red hotspots, marking areas where the thermal sensors on the MODIS instrument have detected high temperatures, are scattered across the Northern Territory, especially in the north. A few hotspots appear in eastern Western Australia. When combined with typical smoke plumes, such hotspots are diagnostic for actively burning fires.

Two large burn scars ringed by active fires can be seen near the center of the Northern Territory, close to Gregory National Park. At the time this image was captured, the burn scars (areas where fire has burned and been extinguished, leaving burnt vegetation behind) were at least 72 hours old. The fires ringing the burn scars were between 6 and 12 hours old. This is suggestive that the fire is burning outward and expanding.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 9/14/2014
Resolutions: 1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC