The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite detected fire activity north of San Diego, California, on May 15, 2014. MODIS also observed fires burning in the Baja California region of Mexico. Red outlines indicate hot spots where the sensor detected unusually warm surface temperatures associated with fires. Winds blew thick plumes of smoke west over the Pacific Ocean. As of May 16, brush fires in California had burned thousands of acres, destroyed several homes, killed at least one person, and forced thousands of people to evacuate.
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response. Caption by Adam Voiland.
