Earth ID: 11029

Yellowstone Burn Recovery

Updated on April 25, 2019

A combination of lightning, drought and human activity caused fires to scorch more than one-third of Yellowstone National Park in the summer of 1988. Within a year, burn scars cast a sharp outline on the 793,880 acres affected by fire, distinguishing wide sections of recovering forest, meadows, grasslands and wetlands from unburned areas of the park. After more than two decades, satellite instruments can still detect these scars from space.

In the time-lapse video below, a series of false-color images collected by USGS-NASA Landsat satellites from 1987 to 2018 show the burning and gradual regeneration of Yellowstone's forests following the 1988 fire season. Watch as burn scars (dark red) quickly replace large expanses of healthy green vegetation (dark green) by 1989. Notice how the scars slowly fade over time as new vegetation begins to grow and heal the landscape.

Landsat Project Scientist Jeff Masek has been studying the recovery of the forest after the 1988 Yellowstone fires. In the video below, he talks about how Landsat satellites detect the burn scars from space and distinguish them from healthy, un-burned forest and from new growth.

In this time-lapse video, a series of false-color images collected by USGS-NASA Landsat satellites from 1987 to 2018 show the burning and gradual regeneration of Yellowstone's forests following the 1988 fire season. Watch as burn scars (dark red) quickly replace large expanses of healthy green vegetation (dark green) by 1989. Notice how the scars slowly fade over time as new vegetation begins to grow and heal the landscape.

For complete transcript, click here.

Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.

Landsat Project Scientist Jeff Masek has been studying the recovery of the forest after the 1988 Yellowstone fires. In this video, he talks about how Landsat satellites detect the burn scars from space and distinguish them from healthy, un-burned forest and from new growth.

For complete transcript, click here.

Complete transcript available.

Older Version

Credits

Matthew R. Radcliff (USRA): Video Editor
Jeffrey Masek (NASA/GSFC): Interviewee
Matthew R. Radcliff (USRA): Producer
Jeffrey Masek (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Matthew R. Radcliff (USRA): Videographer

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Images used from NASA's Earth Observatory:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/yellowstone.php

Landsat is a joint program of NASA and USGS:
http://landsat.usgs.gov
http://www.nasa.gov/landsat

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11029

Mission:
Landsat

This item is part of these series:
Geophysical Changes Over Time
Narrated Movies
Landsat

Goddard TV Tape:
G2011-117 -- Yellowstone Burn Recovery

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Landsat
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Biosphere >> Terrestrial Ecosystems >> Forests
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Human Dimensions >> Natural Hazards >> Fires
SVS >> Hyperwall
DLESE >> Narrated
SVS >> Forest Fires
NASA Science >> Earth

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0