Zaca Fire from Space: NASA’s Aqua satellite on August 21

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Zaca Fire from Space: NASA’s Aqua satellite on August 21

Zaca 2 Wildfire, Southern California - 222,907 acres

Image Acquired: August 21, 2007

Zaca Wildfire, Southern California

High resolution Large Images

Photo-like image (505 kB JPG)
Infrared-enhanced image (1.9 MB JPG)

Since July 4, 2007, the Zaca Fire has been burning through chaparral and woodlands in Southern California’s Los Padres National Forest. These images of the fire were captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on August 21, at which point the fire had burned over 220,000 acres. According to the daily report from the National Interagency Fire Center on August 22, the fire was about 80 percent contained.

The pair of images includes a photo-like version of the scene (top) and an infrared-enhanced version (bottom) that highlights burned areas (brick red) and possible open flames (bright pink). In both images, areas in which the sensor detected active fire are outlined in red. In the photo-like images, the dry vegetation of the chaparral landscapes of Southern California appear greenish brown, bare ground is light tan, and irrigated farmland is bright green.

The large images provided above have a spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides twice-daily images of the region in additional resolutions.

NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center

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How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

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Wednesday, August 22, 2007