Satellites have been tracking all kinds of movement from space such as massive oil spills, tropical storms, and wildfires. NASA recently captured images of the burn marks left behind by the disastrous California fires and are currently tracking the paths of Tropical Storms Hernan and Iselle.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center shared images from the Terra satellite of the areas where the fires were most active in California. The satellite's Moderate Resolution Infrared Spectroradiometer (MODIS) uses reflectance bands to reveal the severity of damage caused by fires.
Deep or bright red, or Band seven, show the burn marks of burned vegetation. Areas that have been less burned are colored green or blue.
Both fires that began near Napa Valley and Santa Clara were the result of lightning strikes from thunderstorms. The wildfires were unique from previous fires; they were firenadoes or fire whirls, which moved similar to a tornado.
Large Burn Marks
NASA's images within the Worldview application could measure how large the burn areas are. Both the Lake Napa Unit Lightning Complex fire and Santa Clara Unite Lightning Complex fire burned about 360,000 acres of land each.
The multiple fire twisters were measured to be two of the largest fires that California experienced. The largest fire in California was the Mendocino Complex fire in 2018, which burned over 450,000 acres of land.
NASA's satellites had been useful in detecting wildfires in remote regions, such as the Australian wildfires earlier this year. Locations of simultaneous fires can be sent to land managers worldwide. As NASA detects active fires, the satellite instruments can also track smoke activity, help with fire management, and map the damage of ecosystems and burn scars.
Two Tropical Storms
Meanwhile, the NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured infrared imaging of two tropical storms: Hernan and Iselle. Hernan has been active on the west coast of Mexico and is expected to absorb Iselle by the end of the week.
The National Hurricane Center said, 'Although Hernan is a sheared tropical cyclone, another strong burst of deep convection with cloud tops of minus 83 to minus 86 degrees Celsius has developed near and south through the west of the center.' The storm is expected to generate heavy rainfall along its path as it travels north.
NASA's Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument on the same satellite also picked up Iselle nearby, which experts predicted to weaken within the next few days. The satellite can also measure the wind shear of tropical storms and cyclones, or how the wind and direction of the storm change depending on the altitude.
Currently, Iselle is generating strong winds and heavy rain with cold cloud top temperatures. It is moving northeast along Baja California and may soon be absorbed by Hernan as it weakens.
Satellites can also pick up other activities such as massive oil spills, like the Mauritius and Russian oil spills this year. They can also pick up other environmental issues such as algal blooms and new penguin populations in Antarctica.
Read Also: 11 New Emperor Penguin Colonies Discovered from Space
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