Earth  ID: 12344

World On Fire

Story by Claire Saravia | Visualizations by Trent L. Schindler Released on August 18, 2016
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There’s always some place on Earth that’s burning.
The 2016 wildfire season is off to a blazing start. To date, more than 29,000 wildfires have burned over 2.6 million acres in the United States alone. In other parts of the world, hot and dry conditions fueled by El Niño have primed places like the southern Amazon for heavy wildfire activity. Scientists say the region is the driest it’s been in more than a decade. Using data collected by satellites, NASA monitors fires across the globe. The space-based views of actively burning fires help fire managers on the ground locate potentially hazardous blazes. The observations also aid researchers in tracking the spread of smoke and ash from fires, which can significantly impact air quality. Watch the video to see a data visualization showing fires detected from space over the course of a year.
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Fires detected by NASA satellites appear as red dots in this video, which shows observations from March 2015 through March 2016.
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Smoke rises from two different wildfires in Wyoming in this image taken by NASA’s Aqua satellite on July 27, 2016.
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Multiple wildfires are seen in this image of central Russia captured by the NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite on July 18, 2016.
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Nearly all of central Africa appears on fire in this satellite image taken on July 11, 2016.
 

Source Material

Global Fires 2015-2016 Visualizations
NASA Sees Intense Fires Around The World
Wildfires Live Shot July 2016

Story Credits

Lead Visualizer/Animator:
Trent L. Schindler (USRA)

Visualizer/Animator:
Lori Perkins (NASA/GSFC)

Lead Producer:
Claire Saravia (NASA/GSFC)

Producers:
Matthew R. Radcliff (USRA)
Patrick Lynch (Wyle Information Systems)

Lead Writer:
Claire Saravia (NASA/GSFC)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
Satellite images courtesy of NASA/MODIS Rapid Response Team/J. Schmaltz

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12344

Keywords:
SVS >> Astrophysics
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Earth