Bushfire in Wilson’s Promontory National Park

February 16, 2009

According to the February 17 report from the Victoria Department of Sustainability and the Environment, the bushfire burning in Wilson’s Promontory National Park was not posing a threat to communities, but the fire was nevertheless large and producing a lot of smoke, which could impact residents near the park. The fire was estimated to be about 9,200 hectares (22,734 acres), and it was burning in a southwest direction. This image of the fire was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite on February 16. Places where MODIS detected active fire are marked in red.

The high-resolution image provided above is at MODIS’ full spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at additional resolutions.

NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey.