Images
June 1, 2015 - Fires in the upper Midwest
Tweet
Multiple fires burned across the upper Midwest in late May, 2015. Multiple red hotspots, each marking an actively burning fire, can be seen south of Lake Superior, in Wisconsin. A single hotspot is also found in Michigan (east) and in Minnesota (west).
The fires in Wisconsin are prescribed burns, which are fires deliberately set by fire officials to try to rid the area of excessive undergrowth before it becomes a fuel in a wildfire. Early spring is often an ideal time for prescribe burns, before very hot weather arrives and before tourists come to visit the parklands. The large fire in the west is being burned (and controlled) in the Moquah Barrens State Natural Area and the other (to the right) is in the Ottawa National Forest, both in the state of Wisconsin. The National Interagency Fire Center reported no wildfires for Wisconsin on the date this image was captured, making it probable that all fires seen in that state are all prescribed burns.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image on May 22 as it passed over the region.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 5/22/2015
Resolutions:
1km (163.8 KB), 500m (618.9 KB), 250m (1.5 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Multiple fires burned across the upper Midwest in late May, 2015. Multiple red hotspots, each marking an actively burning fire, can be seen south of Lake Superior, in Wisconsin. A single hotspot is also found in Michigan (east) and in Minnesota (west).
The fires in Wisconsin are prescribed burns, which are fires deliberately set by fire officials to try to rid the area of excessive undergrowth before it becomes a fuel in a wildfire. Early spring is often an ideal time for prescribe burns, before very hot weather arrives and before tourists come to visit the parklands. The large fire in the west is being burned (and controlled) in the Moquah Barrens State Natural Area and the other (to the right) is in the Ottawa National Forest, both in the state of Wisconsin. The National Interagency Fire Center reported no wildfires for Wisconsin on the date this image was captured, making it probable that all fires seen in that state are all prescribed burns.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image on May 22 as it passed over the region.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 5/22/2015
Resolutions:
1km (163.8 KB), 500m (618.9 KB), 250m (1.5 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
