Fires (locations marked in red) were burning across Victoria, Australia, on April 24, 2008, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite passed overhead and captured this image. Smoke lingers over a large area and spreads southward over the Tasman Sea. At least some of the fires are likely “fuel reduction” fires, which are controlled fires set by land managers to clear grass, brush, or leaf litter that threaten to fuel more devastating fires next summer.
The high-resolution image provided above is at MODIS’ maximum spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides twice-daily images of the area in additional resolutions.
NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey.
