Images
January 18, 2026 - Burn Scars in Australia
Tweet
Southeastern Australia suffered a severe outbreak of bushfires in the first weeks of 2026. By January 10, the situation was so dire that the Premier of the state of Victoria declared a State of Disaster for 18 Local Government Areas and one Alpine Resort. On January 13, the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) reported that more than 700 structures, including 228 homes, had been destroyed as fire swept across 404,000 acres of Victoria. At that time, 11 fires remained active.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this false-color image of two large burn scars in Victoria on January 14.
In this type of image, vegetation appears bright green, open land is tan, water looks dark blue, and cloud usually looks white although high, cold cloud that contains ice may wear a tint of electric blue. Actively burning fire may appear orange and smoke from a fire often takes on a bright blue or gray color. The exact color of a burn scar (an area damaged by fire) depends on many things, including how completely the fire burned the vegetation, the temperature of the fire itself, the type of soil, and the age of the burn. Fresh burns often show up as brick red, then begin to lighten as they age.
This image shows fresh burn scars from two of the largest bushfires. One fires is burning near the town of Longwood, in the southwest. Another bushfire, located to the northeast, is burning near the town of Walwa. A Watch and Act message issued on January 17 for Keotong, Shelley, Berringama, Lucyvale, Nariel Valley, Burrowye, and surrounding area stated it is Not Safe to Return to that area due to the very active bushfire that continues to burn out of control west of the town of Walwa. The Watch and Act message for the Longwood fire is “Monitor Conditions As They Are Changing”—a caution that the bushfire remains out of control and that conditions may became more dangerous at any time.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 1/14/2026
Resolutions:
1km (114.1 KB), 500m (289.6 KB), 250m (328.5 KB)
Bands Used: 7,2,1
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Southeastern Australia suffered a severe outbreak of bushfires in the first weeks of 2026. By January 10, the situation was so dire that the Premier of the state of Victoria declared a State of Disaster for 18 Local Government Areas and one Alpine Resort. On January 13, the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) reported that more than 700 structures, including 228 homes, had been destroyed as fire swept across 404,000 acres of Victoria. At that time, 11 fires remained active.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this false-color image of two large burn scars in Victoria on January 14.
In this type of image, vegetation appears bright green, open land is tan, water looks dark blue, and cloud usually looks white although high, cold cloud that contains ice may wear a tint of electric blue. Actively burning fire may appear orange and smoke from a fire often takes on a bright blue or gray color. The exact color of a burn scar (an area damaged by fire) depends on many things, including how completely the fire burned the vegetation, the temperature of the fire itself, the type of soil, and the age of the burn. Fresh burns often show up as brick red, then begin to lighten as they age.
This image shows fresh burn scars from two of the largest bushfires. One fires is burning near the town of Longwood, in the southwest. Another bushfire, located to the northeast, is burning near the town of Walwa. A Watch and Act message issued on January 17 for Keotong, Shelley, Berringama, Lucyvale, Nariel Valley, Burrowye, and surrounding area stated it is Not Safe to Return to that area due to the very active bushfire that continues to burn out of control west of the town of Walwa. The Watch and Act message for the Longwood fire is “Monitor Conditions As They Are Changing”—a caution that the bushfire remains out of control and that conditions may became more dangerous at any time.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 1/14/2026
Resolutions:
1km (114.1 KB), 500m (289.6 KB), 250m (328.5 KB)
Bands Used: 7,2,1
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
