Wednesday, September 2, 2009

LA County Wild Fires as viewed from Satellite



Wildfires burned north of the city of Los Angeles County on August 29, 2009. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image around 2:20 p.m. local time (21:20 UTC) the same day. Red outlines show hotspots where MODIS detected high surface temperatures associated with fires, and the hotspots roughly correspond with fires described by California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. A department bulletin, issued August 30, 2009, stated that the Station fire was 5 percent contained, affected 35,200 acres, had destroyed 3 residences, and threatened 10,000 more. As of August 30, the Morris fire, affecting 2,168 acres, was 95 percent contained.

Get Ready for Earth Science Week!



With school starting, now is the time to start planning for Earth Science Week which will be observed this year between October 11th and 17th, sponsored by the American Geological Institute.

The theme is “Understanding Climate” and you can learn more at their website.