File:Burn Scars in Australia (MODIS 2020-01-14).jpg
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Summary
DescriptionBurn Scars in Australia (MODIS 2020-01-14).jpg |
English: As Australia suffered under one of its worst droughts in decades and sweltered under a record-setting heatwave in December 2019, vegetation turned tinder-dry, setting the stage for the expansion of the annual bushfire season into a furnace-like inferno. Strong winds added to the spread of almost any spark and carried burning embers from growing fires into tinder-dry areas. The combination has proven to be one of the more horrific fire seasons on record, especially in southeastern Australia.
According to media reports, as of January 13, 2020, more than 17.9 million acres (7.3 million hectares) have been consumed by flame—an area larger than Denmark and Belgium combined. New South Wales has taken the brunt of the damage, with more than 12.1 million acres (4.9 million hectares) burned. At least 1,588 homes have been destroyed in that state. On January 12, 2020, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a false-color image of large burn scars over just a portion of southeastern Australia. Most of the land in this image belongs to the state of Victoria, with just a small amount of New South Wales visible in the north. In false-color images that use visible and near infrared light (bands 7,2,1 on the instrument), vegetation appears bright green, open land appears tan and fire scars appear may appear black, brown, or brick-red. The color variation in burn scars depends on type of vegetation burned, the completeness of the burn, the amount of residue remaining after the burn, and the age of the burn. In this image, vast burn scars are visible across most of the vegetated area, evidence of several very large fires. To give a sense of size of each fire, the U-shaped Lake Hume, which sits on the Murray River just to the west of the edge of vegetated area, has a surface area of 49,900 acres (10,190 hectares). The lake is dwarfed by the size of most of the fire scars. A stunning roll-over comparison between the same area on January 4, 2019 and January 12, 2020 is available HERE,thanks to the Worldview application. NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Worldview application provides the capability to interactively browse over 700 global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers and then download the underlying data. Many of the available imagery layers are updated within three hours of observation, essentially showing the entire Earth as it looks "right now.” |
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Date | Taken on 12 January 2020 | ||
Source |
Burn Scars in Australia (direct link)
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Author | MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC |
This media is a product of the Terra mission Credit and attribution belongs to the mission team, if not already specified in the "author" row |
Licensing
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse |
This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.) | ||
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Items portrayed in this file
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image/jpeg
1,611 pixel
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497,719 byte
bffdc1b77b15d6cec111158db500c2a5b0cc43bf
12 January 2020
14 January 2020
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File history
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Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
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current | 03:23, 17 February 2024 | 1,918 × 1,611 (486 KB) | OptimusPrimeBot | #Spacemedia - Upload of http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/images/image01142020_250m.jpg via Commons:Spacemedia |