According to the USDA Forest Service’s InciWeb information system, the Moonlight Fire in northern California had grown to more than 63,000 acres as of September 11, 2007. Burning in thick forests on steep slopes, the fire had forced mandatory evacuations and closures of the surrounding Plumas National Forest. This image of the fire was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite on September 10. Places where the sensor detected actively burning fire are outlined in red. Smoke blows west over Lake Almanor and toward the Sacramento Valley.
The large image provided above has 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 and formats, including an infrared-enhanced version that highlights burn scars.
NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center
