PIA18795: 2013 Yosemite Fire Assessed by NASA Satellite Data
 Target Name:  Earth
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Aqua
 Spacecraft:  Aqua
 Instrument:  MODIS
 Product Size:  6843 x 3890 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  JPL
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA18795.tif (79.89 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA18795.jpg (2.397 MB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

Measurements from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite were used assess fire danger in California's Stanislaus National Forest (Yosemite National Park) by monitoring live fuel moisture, which is the amount of water contained in vegetation. In this satellite image, the red areas seen by MODIS revealed that live fuel moisture had excessively dried up by more than 50 percent prior to the Rim Fire in August 2013. The Rim Fire burned more than 257,000 acres and caused $124 million in damage. Yellow/orange dots marked actual fire locations (data from U.S. Forest Service), which occurred primarily over the red areas, indicating highly elevated fire danger potential identified by MODIS before the fire occurred.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC

Image Addition Date:
2014-09-02