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Dark Globule in IC 1396
| Title |
Dark Globule in IC 1396 |
| Description |
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope image of a glowing stellar nursery provides a spectacular contrast to the opaque cloud seen in visible light. The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is an elongated dark globule within the emission nebula IC 1396 in the constellation of Cepheus. Located at a distance of 2,450 light-years, the globule is a condensation of dense gas that is barely surviving the strong ionizing radiation from a nearby massive star. The globule is being compressed by the surrounding ionized gas. The dark globule is seen in silhouette at visible-light wavelengths, backlit by the illumination of a bright star located to the left of the field of view. The Spitzer Space Telescope pierces through the obscuration to reveal the birth of new protostars, or embryonic stars, and previously unseen young stars. The infrared image, which transforms the dark cloud into a 'flying dragon,' was obtained by Spitzer's infrared array camera. The image is a four-color composite of invisible light, showing emissions from wavelengths of 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8.0 microns (red). The filamentary appearance of the globule results from the sculpting effects of competing physical processes. The winds from a massive star, located to the left of the image, produce a dense circular rim comprising the 'head' of the globule and a swept-back tail of gas. A pair of young stars (LkHa 349 and LkHa 349c) that formed from the dense gas has cleared a spherical cavity within the globule head. While one of these stars is significantly fainter than the other in the visible-light image, they are of comparable brightness in the infrared Spitzer image. This implies the presence of a thick and dusty disc around LkHa 349c. Such circumstellar discs are the precursors of planetary systems. They are much thicker in the early stages of stellar formation when the placental planet-forming material (gas and dust) is still present. |
|
Dark Globule in IC 1396
| Title |
Dark Globule in IC 1396 |
| Description |
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope image of a glowing stellar nursery provides a spectacular contrast to the opaque cloud seen in visible light. The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is an elongated dark globule within the emission nebula IC 1396 in the constellation of Cepheus. Located at a distance of 2,450 light-years, the globule is a condensation of dense gas that is barely surviving the strong ionizing radiation from a nearby massive star. The globule is being compressed by the surrounding ionized gas. The dark globule is seen in silhouette at visible-light wavelengths, backlit by the illumination of a bright star located to the left of the field of view. The Spitzer Space Telescope pierces through the obscuration to reveal the birth of new protostars, or embryonic stars, and previously unseen young stars. The infrared image, which transforms the dark cloud into a 'flying dragon,' was obtained by Spitzer's infrared array camera. The image is a four-color composite of invisible light, showing emissions from wavelengths of 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8.0 microns (red). The filamentary appearance of the globule results from the sculpting effects of competing physical processes. The winds from a massive star, located to the left of the image, produce a dense circular rim comprising the 'head' of the globule and a swept-back tail of gas. A pair of young stars (LkHa 349 and LkHa 349c) that formed from the dense gas has cleared a spherical cavity within the globule head. While one of these stars is significantly fainter than the other in the visible-light image, they are of comparable brightness in the infrared Spitzer image. This implies the presence of a thick and dusty disc around LkHa 349c. Such circumstellar discs are the precursors of planetary systems. They are much thicker in the early stages of stellar formation when the placental planet-forming material (gas and dust) is still present. |
|
Dark Globule in IC 1396
| Title |
Dark Globule in IC 1396 |
| Description |
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope image of a glowing stellar nursery provides a spectacular contrast to the opaque cloud seen in visible light. The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is an elongated dark globule within the emission nebula IC 1396 in the constellation of Cepheus. Located at a distance of 2,450 light-years, the globule is a condensation of dense gas that is barely surviving the strong ionizing radiation from a nearby massive star. The globule is being compressed by the surrounding ionized gas. The dark globule is seen in silhouette at visible-light wavelengths, backlit by the illumination of a bright star located to the left of the field of view. The Spitzer Space Telescope pierces through the obscuration to reveal the birth of new protostars, or embryonic stars, and previously unseen young stars. The infrared image, which transforms the dark cloud into a 'flying dragon,' was obtained by Spitzer's infrared array camera. The image is a four-color composite of invisible light, showing emissions from wavelengths of 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8.0 microns (red). The filamentary appearance of the globule results from the sculpting effects of competing physical processes. The winds from a massive star, located to the left of the image, produce a dense circular rim comprising the 'head' of the globule and a swept-back tail of gas. A pair of young stars (LkHa 349 and LkHa 349c) that formed from the dense gas has cleared a spherical cavity within the globule head. While one of these stars is significantly fainter than the other in the visible-light image, they are of comparable brightness in the infrared Spitzer image. This implies the presence of a thick and dusty disc around LkHa 349c. Such circumstellar discs are the precursors of planetary systems. They are much thicker in the early stages of stellar formation when the placental planet-forming material (gas and dust) is still present. |
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Hubble's Largest Galaxy Port
…
| Title |
Hubble's Largest Galaxy Portrait Offers a New High-Definition View |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Giant galaxies weren?t assembled in a day. Neither was this Hubble Space Telescope image of the face-on spiral galaxy Messier 101 (M101). It is the largest and most detailed photo of a spiral galaxy that has ever been released from Hubble. The galaxy?s portrait is actually composed of 51 individual exposures taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 in March 1994, September 1994, June 1999, November 2002, and January 2003. The newly composed image also includes elements from images from ground-based photos. |
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Hubble's Largest Galaxy Port
…
| Title |
Hubble's Largest Galaxy Portrait Offers a New High-Definition View |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Giant galaxies weren?t assembled in a day. Neither was this Hubble Space Telescope image of the face-on spiral galaxy Messier 101 (M101). It is the largest and most detailed photo of a spiral galaxy that has ever been released from Hubble. The galaxy?s portrait is actually composed of 51 individual exposures taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 in March 1994, September 1994, June 1999, November 2002, and January 2003. The newly composed image also includes elements from images from ground-based photos. |
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Holiday Wishes from the Hubb
…
| Title |
Holiday Wishes from the Hubble Space Telescope |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Resembling festive lights on a holiday wreath, this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of the nearby spiral galaxy M74 is an iconic reminder of the impending season. Bright knots of glowing gas light up the spiral arms, indicating a rich environment of star formation. M74 is located roughly 32 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Pisces, the Fish. The image is a composite of Advanced Camera for Surveys data taken in 2003 and 2005. |
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Montana and Alberta (Canada)
…
| Title |
Montana and Alberta (Canada) fires - July 29, 2003 |
| Abstract |
Push-in to the fires in Montana (US) and Alberta (Canada). |
| Completed |
2003-07-30 |
|
Montana and Alberta (Canada)
…
| Title |
Montana and Alberta (Canada) fires - July 29, 2003 |
| Abstract |
Push-in to the fires in Montana (US) and Alberta (Canada). |
| Completed |
2003-07-30 |
|
Montana and Alberta (Canada)
…
| Title |
Montana and Alberta (Canada) fires - July 29, 2003 |
| Abstract |
Push-in to the fires in Montana (US) and Alberta (Canada). |
| Completed |
2003-07-30 |
|
Ionosphere Total Electron Co
…
| Title |
Ionosphere Total Electron Content - November 2003 |
| Abstract |
This movie displays plume formation for a space weather event in November 2003. In this visualization, the observer is fixed between the Sun and the Earth (slightly off the center line for better perspective). Blue represents low ionospheric electron counts, dark red is high electron counts. |
| Completed |
2005-11-18 |
|
Ionosphere Total Electron Co
…
| Title |
Ionosphere Total Electron Content - November 2003 |
| Abstract |
This movie displays plume formation for a space weather event in November 2003. In this visualization, the observer is fixed between the Sun and the Earth (slightly off the center line for better perspective). Blue represents low ionospheric electron counts, dark red is high electron counts. |
| Completed |
2005-11-18 |
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Blackout Hits U.S. and Canad
…
| Title |
Blackout Hits U.S. and Canadian Cities |
| Description |
*High-resolution Images:* August 14, 2003 (448 KB JPEG) August 15, 2003 (416 KB JPEG) A power failure left many American cities in the dark on the evening of Thursday, Aug. 14, 2003. Authorities report there is no evidence of sabotage, although the cause of the blackout is not currently known. The North American Electric Reliability Council is currently focusing its investigation on the "Lake Erie loop"a series of power transmission lines encircling the lake from Detroit to New York and into Canada. There is some evidence that the loss of a power line in Cleveland, Ohio, was the first in the series of events that led to the widespread power outage. Authorities report that at around 4 p.m. the power flow on the northern side of the loop in Canada was moving from west to east. Then, for reasons not yet known, the power flow suddenly reversed direction and nearly doubled. The blackout began spreading rapidly across the grid with the sudden surge in power. Within minutes, computer programs in 21 different power stations across the region detected the cascading problem and automatically shut down to protect the power grid from damage. Although power was restored to some local areas within hours after the blackout, several major cities were left without power overnight. The change in the nighttime city lights is apparent in this pair of DMSP satellite images. The top image was acquired on Aug. 14, about 20 hours before the blackout, and the bottom image shows the same area on Aug. 15, roughly 7 hours after the blackout. In the bottom scene, notice how the lights in Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, Toronto, and Ottowa are either missing or visibly reduced. Long Island, New York, was also significantly affected, however, Boston was left relatively untouched. Image courtesy Chris Elvidge, U.S. Air Force |
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Blackout Leaves American Cit
…
| Title |
Blackout Leaves American Cities in the Dark |
| Description |
*High-resolution Images:* August 14, 2003 (448 KB JPEG) August 15, 2003 (416 KB JPEG) A power failure left many American cities in the dark on the evening of Thursday, Aug. 14, 2003. Authorities report there is no evidence of sabotage, although the cause of the blackout is not currently known. The North American Electric Reliability Council is currently focusing its investigation on the "Lake Erie loop"a series of power transmission lines encircling the lake from Detroit to New York and into Canada. There is some evidence that the loss of a power line in Cleveland, Ohio, was the first in the series of events that led to the widespread power outage. Authorities report that at around 4 p.m. the power flow on the northern side of the loop in Canada was moving from west to east. Then, for reasons not yet known, the power flow suddenly reversed direction and nearly doubled. The blackout began spreading rapidly across the grid with the sudden surge in power. Within minutes, computer programs in 21 different power stations across the region detected the cascading problem and automatically shut down to protect the power grid from damage. Although power was restored to some local areas within hours after the blackout, several major cities were left without power overnight. The change in the nighttime city lights is apparent in this pair of DMSP satellite images. The top image was acquired on Aug. 14, about 20 hours before the blackout, and the bottom image shows the same area on Aug. 15, roughly 7 hours after the blackout. In the bottom scene, notice how the lights in Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, Toronto, and Ottowa are either missing or visibly reduced. Long Island, New York, was also significantly affected, however, Boston was left relatively untouched. Image courtesy Chris Elvidge, U.S. Air Force |
|
Blackout Leaves American Cit
…
| Title |
Blackout Leaves American Cities in the Dark |
| Description |
*High-resolution Images:* August 14, 2003 (448 KB JPEG) August 15, 2003 (416 KB JPEG) A power failure left many American cities in the dark on the evening of Thursday, Aug. 14, 2003. Authorities report there is no evidence of sabotage, although the cause of the blackout is not currently known. The North American Electric Reliability Council is currently focusing its investigation on the "Lake Erie loop"a series of power transmission lines encircling the lake from Detroit to New York and into Canada. There is some evidence that the loss of a power line in Cleveland, Ohio, was the first in the series of events that led to the widespread power outage. Authorities report that at around 4 p.m. the power flow on the northern side of the loop in Canada was moving from west to east. Then, for reasons not yet known, the power flow suddenly reversed direction and nearly doubled. The blackout began spreading rapidly across the grid with the sudden surge in power. Within minutes, computer programs in 21 different power stations across the region detected the cascading problem and automatically shut down to protect the power grid from damage. Although power was restored to some local areas within hours after the blackout, several major cities were left without power overnight. The change in the nighttime city lights is apparent in this pair of DMSP satellite images. The top image was acquired on Aug. 14, about 20 hours before the blackout, and the bottom image shows the same area on Aug. 15, roughly 7 hours after the blackout. In the bottom scene, notice how the lights in Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, Toronto, and Ottowa are either missing or visibly reduced. Long Island, New York, was also significantly affected, however, Boston was left relatively untouched. Image courtesy Chris Elvidge, U.S. Air Force |
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Burn Scars in the Pacific No
…
| Title |
Burn Scars in the Pacific Northwest |
| Description |
Fire season is winding down in western North America, but this false-color image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite reveals the season?s fire-scarred landscape. Vegetation is in shades of green, while burned areas are red. Scars dot the Northern Rockies from Canada (roughly top half of image) to Montana (bottom right) and Idaho, to its west. Additional large scars are visible in the Coast Mountains (left) which stretch from British Columbia, Canada, southward into Washington. Clouds are white and light blue, lakes and rivers are dark blue, and snow is bright blue. Naturally bare ground (or extremely low vegetation), such as on the highest mountains ridges at top center, or in the Columbia River Basin (bottom center), is pinkish tan. MODIS captured this image on October 4, 2003. Image courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Haze over the Atlantic Seabo
…
| Title |
Haze over the Atlantic Seaboard |
| Description |
NASA's Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) sensor on the Terra satellite captured these observations of carbon monoxide over the eastern United States (bottom left), Canada (top), and the Atlantic Ocean (right) on June 26, 2003. True-color imagery revealed a pall of haze stretching over a large area, and these observations confirm the high values (red pixels) of the pollutant carbon monoxide associated with the haze. Cloudy areas are shown in gray. MOPITT data visualized by Jesse Allen. Data provided by the NCAR/UCAR MOPITT science team. |
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Massive Flare Erupts on Sun
| Title |
Massive Flare Erupts on Sun |
| Description |
A massive solar flare erupted from the surface of the Sun at 9:51 UTC on October 28, 2003. The solar flare persisted for more than an hour, peaking at 11:10 UTC. Associated with the flare was an ejection of a billion tons or more of gas from the Sun?s tenuous outer atmosphere, or corona. Both the flare and the coronal mass ejection accelerated electrically charged particles to very high energies and hurled them at near the speed of light directly toward the Earth. It takes light roughly 8 minutes to travel from the Sun to Earth, and these particles made the trip in less than an hour. NOAA is predicting that the coronal mass ejection will hit the Earth?s magnetosphere sometime early tomorrow (Oct. 29), probably at or before 12 noon UTC. (Click to visit the NOAA Space Environment Center?s Space Weather [ http://sec.noaa.gov/today2.html ], Web site for more details.) The images above show the event from the perspective of three different satellite sensors. The top image was acquired by the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO), aboard NASA?s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite. In the center of the image is an occultation disc, which allows the sensor to focus on the scattering of light from the Sun?s surface off the free electrons in the Sun?s corona. This light appears as the orange halo seemingly radiating outward from the Sun. (The white circle on the occultation disc shows the actual size and location of the solar disc). Note the bright white features extending from beneath and to the left of the Sun. These are today?s coronal mass ejections, which appear to be heading directly toward the Earth. The bottom left image shows the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) view of the Sun?s visible surface. The dark patches are sunspots, which are a tepid 4,000 Kelvin?much cooler than the Sun?s typical surface temperature of 6,000 Kelvin. The bottom right scene shows the view from the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT). This sensor shows the light from a single ionized species of iron that is formed at about 1.5 million Kelvin high in the Sun?s corona. Today?s solar flare appears as the bright green-white feature toward the bottom left of the solar disc. To put this event in perspective, NOAA predicts the impacts of the coronal mass ejection on the Earth?s magnetosphere will be a ?4? (severe) on a scale of 1 to 5. The flare is the third largest ever recorded in the 30 years since NOAA began observing soft X-ray emissions from the Sun. Today?s flare is listed as an X17.2, with an X20 being the most intense flare ever observed in that time. People living in Quebec, Canada, may recall that in March 1989 an X15 solar storm was strong enough to knock out the region?s power grid. Officials say it is possible that people in the Southern Hemisphere will see aurorae at much lower latitudes than usual on Oct. 29, when the coronal mass ejection reaches Earth. It is also possible that people could experience problems using telecommunications devices, such as satellite phones and pagers. In May 1998, for example, the commercial Galaxy IV satellite was damaged by a solar storm, knocking out its ability to support telecommunications. For more images from the SOHO mission, please see http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2003_10_28/ [ http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2003_10_28/ ]. To learn more about NASA?s ongoing studies of the Sun-Earth connection, please read A Violent Sun Affects the Earth?s Ozone [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/ProtonOzone/ ]. Images courtesy Solar & Heliospheric Observatory [ http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/ ] |
|
Massive Solar Flare
| Title |
Massive Solar Flare |
| Description |
A massive solar flare erupted from the surface of the Sun at 9:51 UTC on October 28, 2003. The solar flare persisted for more than an hour, peaking at 11:10 UTC. Associated with the flare was an ejection of a billion tons or more of gas from the Sun's tenuous outer atmosphere, or corona. Both the flare and the coronal mass ejection accelerated electrically charged particles to very high energies and hurled them at near the speed of light directly toward the Earth. It takes light roughly 8 minutes to travel from the Sun to Earth, and these particles made the trip in less than an hour. NOAA is predicting that the coronal mass ejection will hit the Earth's magnetosphere sometime early tomorrow (Oct. 29), probably at or before 12 noon UTC. (Click to visit the NOAA Space Environment Center's Space Weather [ http://sec.noaa.gov/today2.html ], Web site for more details.) The images above show the event from the perspective of three different satellite sensors. The top image was acquired by the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO), aboard NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite. In the center of the image is an occultation disc, which allows the sensor to focus on the scattering of light from the Sun's surface off the free electrons in the Sun's corona. This light appears as the orange halo seemingly radiating outward from the Sun. (The white circle on the occultation disc shows the actual size and location of the solar disc). Note the bright white features extending from beneath and to the left of the Sun. These are today's coronal mass ejections, which appear to be heading directly toward the Earth. The bottom left image shows the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) view of the Sun's visible surface. The dark patches are sunspots, which are a tepid 4,000 Kelvinmuch cooler than the Sun's typical surface temperature of 6,000 Kelvin. The bottom right scene shows the view from the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT). This sensor shows the light from a single ionized species of iron that is formed at about 1.5 million Kelvin high in the Sun's corona. Today's solar flare appears as the bright green-white feature toward the bottom left of the solar disc. To put this event in perspective, NOAA predicts the impacts of the coronal mass ejection on the Earth's magnetosphere will be a "4" (severe) on a scale of 1 to 5. The flare is the third largest ever recorded in the 30 years since NOAA began observing soft X-ray emissions from the Sun. Today's flare is listed as an X17.2, with an X20 being the most intense flare ever observed in that time. People living in Quebec, Canada, may recall that in March 1989 an X15 solar storm was strong enough to knock out the region's power grid. Officials say it is possible that people in the Southern Hemisphere will see aurorae at much lower latitudes than usual on Oct. 29, when the coronal mass ejection reaches Earth. It is also possible that people could experience problems using telecommunications devices, such as satellite phones and pagers. In May 1998, for example, the commercial Galaxy IV satellite was damaged by a solar storm, knocking out its ability to support telecommunications. For more images from the SOHO mission, please see http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2003_10_28/ [ http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2003_10_28/ ]. To learn more about NASA's ongoing studies of the Sun-Earth connection, please read A Violent Sun Affects the Earth's Ozone [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/ProtonOzone/ ]. Images courtesy Solar & Heliospheric Observatory [ http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/ ] |
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Fires Across the United Stat
…
| Title |
Fires Across the United States |
| Description |
This expansive image of the United States was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometers (MODIS) on NASA?s Terra and Aqua satellites. The left hand portion of the image comes from Aqua MODIS observations captured on the afternoon of October 22, 2003, while the right hand part of the image is from Terra MODIS observations captured a few hours earlier. Several geographic regions are experiencing fires, which were detected by the sensors and are marked with red dots. At upper left, fires are still burning across the Northern Rockies, the highest concentration is in Idaho, with additional fires in Montana to its east, and southeastern Washington and northeastern Oregon, to the west. In the Southwest, fires are burning in southern California near Los Angeles (gray patch right at edge of image to the north of the Baja Peninsula), as well as in the arc of mountains running through Arizona. At top center, fires are scattered across the northern Great Plains, from North Dakota and across the United States? border into Canada. Far to the south, dozens more fires are burning in the Mississippi River Valley in Mississippi (against right edge), Louisiana (to the west) and Arkansas (north of Louisiana). The high-resolution image provided above is 2 kilometers per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS? maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC |
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Fires Across the United Stat
…
| Title |
Fires Across the United States |
| Description |
This expansive image of the United States was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometers (MODIS) on NASA?s Terra and Aqua satellites. The left hand portion of the image comes from Aqua MODIS observations captured on the afternoon of October 22, 2003, while the right hand part of the image is from Terra MODIS observations captured a few hours earlier. Several geographic regions are experiencing fires, which were detected by the sensors and are marked with red dots. At upper left, fires are still burning across the Northern Rockies, the highest concentration is in Idaho, with additional fires in Montana to its east, and southeastern Washington and northeastern Oregon, to the west. In the Southwest, fires are burning in southern California near Los Angeles (gray patch right at edge of image to the north of the Baja Peninsula), as well as in the arc of mountains running through Arizona. At top center, fires are scattered across the northern Great Plains, from North Dakota and across the United States? border into Canada. Far to the south, dozens more fires are burning in the Mississippi River Valley in Mississippi (against right edge), Louisiana (to the west) and Arkansas (north of Louisiana). The high-resolution image provided above is 2 kilometers per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS? maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC |
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Fires In Alaska and Northern
…
| Title |
Fires In Alaska and Northern Canada |
| Description |
Fires triggered by lightning in the week of June 14 have continued to burn across eastern Alaska on June 23, 2003. This image captured by the Terra satellite?s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) shows numerous large fires scorching the landscape and filling the skies with thick smoke. Some of the most extreme fire behavior is occurring at the Pingo and Winter Trail Fires (top). The Pingo fire grew 16,690 acres since the previous day's mapping, to reach a size of 52,930 acres. The Winter Trail Fire grew rapidly to the north and east, increasing by more than 32,000 acres between mapping periods on June 22 and 23, and was 49,670 as of June 23. Image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center |
|
Fires In Alaska and Northern
…
| Title |
Fires In Alaska and Northern Canada |
| Description |
Fires triggered by lightning in the week of June 14 have continued to burn across eastern Alaska on June 23, 2003. This image captured by the Terra satellite?s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) shows numerous large fires scorching the landscape and filling the skies with thick smoke. Some of the most extreme fire behavior is occurring at the Pingo and Winter Trail Fires (top). The Pingo fire grew 16,690 acres since the previous day's mapping, to reach a size of 52,930 acres. The Winter Trail Fire grew rapidly to the north and east, increasing by more than 32,000 acres between mapping periods on June 22 and 23, and was 49,670 as of June 23. Image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center |
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Fires in British Columbia
| Title |
Fires in British Columbia |
| Description |
The Okanagan Mountain Park Fire rages through the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, Canada, in this false-color infrared image captured by the IKONOS satellite on August 21, 2003. The burned region appears dark greenish grey in the upper portion of image. The dark red regions in the image are unburned forest and the lighter red patches are cleared land. The northern reaches of this fire (just out of the image) destroyed or damaged 247 homes in and around the city of Kelowna as of August 26, 2003, and forced 16,000 people to flee. An additional 25,000 people were prepared to evacuate. The fire was discovered on August 16, 2003, and as of August 27, 2003, had burned more than 200 square kilometers of land. In the expanded version of the image, the city of Penticton on the southern tip of Lake Okanagan remains mostly untouched. Image courtesy Space Imaging |
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Fires in British Columbia
| Title |
Fires in British Columbia |
| Description |
The Okanagan Mountain Park Fire rages through the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, Canada, in this false-color infrared image captured by the IKONOS satellite on August 21, 2003. The burned region appears dark greenish grey in the upper portion of image. The dark red regions in the image are unburned forest and the lighter red patches are cleared land. The northern reaches of this fire (just out of the image) destroyed or damaged 247 homes in and around the city of Kelowna as of August 26, 2003, and forced 16,000 people to flee. An additional 25,000 people were prepared to evacuate. The fire was discovered on August 16, 2003, and as of August 27, 2003, had burned more than 200 square kilometers of land. In the expanded version of the image, the city of Penticton on the southern tip of Lake Okanagan remains mostly untouched. Image courtesy Space Imaging |
|
Fires in Manitoba
| Title |
Fires in Manitoba |
| Description |
Dozens of fires were burning in Manitoba and Ontario, Canada, on August 18, 2003. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite shows the active fire detections marked in yellow. A cloud of smoke is billowing northeastward over the Hudson Bay, while a river of smoke flowing in from the western part of the image hints at more fires burning farther away. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC |
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Fires in Manitoba
| Title |
Fires in Manitoba |
| Description |
Large fires were burning across Manitoba southwest of Hudson Bay on September 9, 2003. Smoke from these fires and others farther west hangs over the northeast part of the image. Active fire detections are marked with red in this true-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image from September 9, 2003. Many of the fires show dark brown burn scars. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Fires in Montana and Alberta
| Title |
Fires in Montana and Alberta |
| Description |
The Lost Creek Fire (center) continued to grow on August 1, 2003. The blaze is on the border of Alberta and British Columbia Provinces in western Canada. This image of the fire, and others to south in Glacier National Park in Montana, was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite. Active fire detections captured by the sensor have been marked in yellow (this image) and with a red outline in the high-resolution image. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA-GSFC |
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Fires in Northern Canada
| Title |
Fires in Northern Canada |
| Description |
In the central portion of Canada's Northwest Territories (top), Alberta (bottom left), and Saskatchewan (bottom right), dozens of fires were burning across the summer-green landscape on July 22, 2004. Most of the fires (marked in yellow in the image) are located southeast of Great Slave Lake in the top portion of the image. According to statistics provided by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center [ http://www.ciffc.ca/firewire.htm ], both the Northwest Territories and Alberta are having a much more active fire season this year than last. Both provinces have recorded nearly double the number of fires so far in 2004 than they had at this time in 2003. Burned acreage is nearly seven times what it was at this time in summer of 2004. Saskatchewan presents a mixed picturefewer fires so far in the 2004 season, but about 1.5 times the acreage has burned compared to 2003. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at additional resolutions. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center |
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Smoke from Asian Fires over
…
| Title |
Smoke from Asian Fires over Canada |
| Description |
This Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) from the Terra satellite on May 24, 2003, shows a large plume of smoke passing over Eastern Canada. The smoke probably originated from the intense forest fires [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=10677 ] burning in Asia. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Smoke from Asian Fires over
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Smoke from Asian Fires over Canada |
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Smoke from forest fires raging across eastern Russia is making its way around the globe. This true-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image from May 25, 2003, shows smoke from those fires over Ontario (west of Hudson Bay, top) and Quebec (east). The smoke is especially thick over Lake Superior (bottom left). Image courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Smoke from Asian Fires over
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Smoke from Asian Fires over Canada |
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This Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) from the Terra satellite on May 23, 2003, shows a large plume of smoke passing over Central Canada. The smoke probably originated from the intense forest fires [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=10677 ] burning in Asia. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Smoke from Fires in Eastern
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Smoke from Fires in Eastern Russia |
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Smoke from fires in eastern Russia has crossed the Bering Sea and spread over Alaska and western Canada. In the top part of the image, the smoke appears more yellowish, while across the Alaska Peninsula (bottom center) and northeastward over the Gulf of Alaska, the smoke appears more grayish-white. This image was acquired by the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) on May 21, 2003. Image provided by the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) Project, NASA-GSFC, and ORBIMAGE |
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Smoke over Pacific Northwest
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Smoke over Pacific Northwest |
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Smoke pouring from numerous fires in the northwestern United States and Canada obscured the ground over much of the Pacific Northwest and Great Plains region. The smoke (gray pixels) was so thick it filled a number of the valleys in the mountainous regions of the northwest. Some of the smoke appears to have been drawn eastward along the southern edge of the low-pressure cell visible over Manitoba (in the high-resolution version of this scene). This true-color image was acquired by the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) on September 2, 2003. Image courtesy the SeaWiFS Project, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEAWIFS.html ] NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE |
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Smoke over the Maritimes
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Smoke over the Maritimes |
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This Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) image captured on August 20, 2003, over the Canadian maritime provinces shows a large band of smoke presumably from the forest fires burning farther to the west. Phytoplankton color the water along the eastern edge of the Grand Banks (bottom right) bright aquamarine while the communities in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (center) give the water darker, greener tones. Image courtesy the SeaWiFS Project, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEAWIFS.html ] NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE |
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Fires in the Northern Rockie
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Fires in the Northern Rockies |
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Dozens of large fires were burning across the Rocky Mountains in Canada (top), Montana (bottom right), and Idaho (bottom center) on August 14, 2003. This image shows smoke plumes trailing from the fires, which were detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite and are marked with red dots in the image. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS? maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Fires in the Northern Rockie
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Fires in the Northern Rockies |
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Dozens of fires burning in the Rocky Mountains in Montana were detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite on the afternoon of August 19, 2003. In the image, fire locations have been marked in yellow. The fires are threatening power transmission lines and many residents have been told to prepare for blackouts as other residents are being evacuated. This image shows the region surround Flathead Lake (left of center) in northwest Montana. To the north of the lake are several fires burning in Glacier National Park right near the United States-Canada border, while dozens of fires to the south are filling mountain valleys in with smoke. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Fires in the Northern Rockie
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Fires in the Northern Rockies |
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More than 20 large fires are burning in the Northern Rockies region of Montana and Idaho as of September 4, 2003. Nearly half a million acres in the U.S. have been affected by the fires, which are marked in red in this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image from the Terra satellite on September 2. Additional fires have been burning for weeks in the Rockies in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, to the north. Image courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Fires in the Northern Rockie
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Fires in the Northern Rockies |
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More than 20 large fires are burning in the Northern Rockies region of Montana and Idaho as of September 4, 2003. Nearly half a million acres in the U.S. have been affected by the fires, which are marked in red in this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image from the Terra satellite on September 2. Additional fires have been burning for weeks in the Rockies in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, to the north. Image courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Fires in the Northern Rockie
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Fires in the Northern Rockies |
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On September 6, 2003, dozens of large fires were burning in the northern Rockies of British Columbia (top), Montana (bottom right), Idaho (bottom center), and Washington (bottom left). In Montana, a line of fires stretches southward from the U.S.-Canada border for 190 kilometers (118 miles), creating a wall of smoke that hangs over the Lewis Range Mountains east of Flathead Lake. This image of the fires (marked in red) was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite on September 6. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Fires in Western Canada
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Fires in Western Canada |
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On August 5, 2003, large fires continued to burn in western Canada, and although thousands of people who had been evacuated were permitted to return to their homes, several thousand more will still waiting to be given permission to return. The two large fires (marked in red) pictured in this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image from the Terra satellite are the Chilko Lake Fire (left) and the McClure Fire (right). The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Fires in Western Canada
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Fires in Western Canada |
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Ten thousand people have been evacuated from their homes in parts of Canada over the past week, as wildfires blaze across the country. This Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image from the Terra satellite was captured on August 3, 2003, and shows numerous actively burning fires marked with red dots. The town of Barriere in British Columbia is one of the devastated communities, with an estimated 70 houses burned already. According to news reports, fires are completely surrounding the town, which is located near the large cluster of red dots just south of the center of this image. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Fires in Western Canada
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Fires in Western Canada |
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On August 1, 2003, dozens of large fires were burning across western North America in Canada (top half of image) and the United States (bottom half). Huge plumes of smoke were streaming northeastward from massive fires in Canada's British Columbia (left) and Alberta (right) provinces, while across the international border, fires were burning in (left to right) Washington, Idaho, and Montana. This image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC |
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Fires in Western Canada
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Fires in Western Canada |
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This Ikonos image shows the smoldering burned area of a massive fire that swept through the village of Louis Creek and toward the town of Barriere, British Columbia in early August 2003. This image was captured on Friday, August 8, and uses the sensor's observations in the near-infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum so living vegetation is seen in red (right of image) and burned vegetation is charcoal (left). According to news reports, the fire destroyed the sawmill-village of Louis Creek, seen to the southeast of the hump in the North Thompson River (northwest of center). Barriere is seen in the top center of the image and is slightly covered by smoke and clouds. Image courtesy Space Imaging. |
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Fires in Western Canada
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Fires in Western Canada |
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On July 31, 2003, Ikonos captured this high-resolution image of southwestern British Columbia?s Chilko Lake Fire still smoldering. Surrounded by a large purplish-gray burned area, an isolated area of green vegetation (center) is harboring several actively burning areas, from which smoke plumes drift eastward. Image courtesy Space Imaging. |
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Fires in Western Canada
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Fires in Western Canada |
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Dozens of large fires were burning across British Columbia, which dominates the upper left of this scene, on August 21, 2003. Hundreds of residents in this mountainous Canadian province are already evacuated, and thousands more are on alert. Thick smoke chokes the skies and the fires spread rapidly through the forested terrain. This image of the fires, marked with yellow dots, was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite on August 21. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC> |
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Fires in Western Canada
| Title |
Fires in Western Canada |
| Description |
Dozens of large fires were burning across British Columbia, which dominates the upper left of this scene, on August 21, 2003. Hundreds of residents in this mountainous Canadian province are already evacuated, and thousands more are on alert. Thick smoke chokes the skies and the fires spread rapidly through the forested terrain. This image of the fires, marked with yellow dots, was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite on August 21. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC> |
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Fires in Western Canada
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Fires in Western Canada |
| Description |
Dozens of large fires were burning across British Columbia, Canada, on August 20, 2003. The fires (marked with yellow) have forced hundreds of people to evacuate their homes and put thousands on evacuation alert. This image of the fires was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite. British Columbia is at top left, with Alberta to the east. At the bottom are Washington, Idaho, and Montana. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Fires Surrounding Lake Baika
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Fires Surrounding Lake Baikal |
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Forest fires (marked with red dots) surround southern Russia's Lake Baikal on June 9, 2003. Scores of fires are burning in a variety of ecosystems, including mature spruce forests, cedar forests, and mixed forests. Smoke from these fires has been streaming across eastern Russia and China and out over the Pacific Ocean off and on for months, and has traveled around the world, reaching Canada and the United States. This true-color image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Ward Hunt Ice Shelf
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Ward Hunt Ice Shelf |
| Description |
The Arctic?s largest ice shelf is breaking up. The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf is a remnant of the compacted snow and ancient sea ice that extended along the northern shores of Ellesmere Island in Northern Canada until the early twentieth century. Rising temperatures have reduced the original shelf into a number of smaller shelves, the largest of which was the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf on the northwest fringe of the island. The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf encompasses Ward Hunt Island and covers the mouth of the Disraeli Fiord. Until recently, fresh melt water formed a 43-meter deep lake on top of almost 400 meters of seawater in the fiord. Called an epishelf lake, the relatively fresh water dammed by the 3000-year-old ice shelf became the basis of a rare ecosystem. Disraeli Fiord was the largest remaining epishelf lake in the Northern Hemisphere. Between 2000 and 2002, the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf began to crack and eventually broke in two, allowing the lake behind it to drain rapidly into the Arctic Ocean. Derek Mueller and Warwick Vincent, of the Centre d?études nordiques at Université Laval in Quebec, Canada and Martin Jeffries of the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska described the event in a paper published in Geophysical Research Letters [ http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2003GL017931 ] on October 18, 2003. This Standard Beam Mode RADARSAT-1 image clearly shows a large crack dividing the ice shelf in half. The crack runs from the Arctic Sea to the right of Ward Hunt Island and the bright white ice grounded there and back to the rougher, mountainous region. The image, acquired September 27, 2003, has a resolution of 25 meters. Image courtesy RADARSAT International [ http://www.rsi.ca/home.htm ]. RADARSAT-1 data © Canadian Space Agency/Agence spatiale canadienne 2003. Received by the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing. Processed and distributed by RADARSAT International. |
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Ward Hunt Ice Shelf
| Title |
Ward Hunt Ice Shelf |
| Description |
The Arctic?s largest ice shelf is breaking up. The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf is a remnant of the compacted snow and ancient sea ice that extended along the northern shores of Ellesmere Island in Northern Canada until the early twentieth century. Rising temperatures have reduced the original shelf into a number of smaller shelves, the largest of which was the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf on the northwest fringe of the island. The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf encompasses Ward Hunt Island and covers the mouth of the Disraeli Fiord. Until recently, fresh melt water formed a 43-meter deep lake on top of almost 400 meters of seawater in the fiord. Called an epishelf lake, the relatively fresh water dammed by the 3000-year-old ice shelf became the basis of a rare ecosystem. Disraeli Fiord was the largest remaining epishelf lake in the Northern Hemisphere. Between 2000 and 2002, the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf began to crack and eventually broke in two, allowing the lake behind it to drain rapidly into the Arctic Ocean. Derek Mueller and Warwick Vincent, of the Centre d?études nordiques at Université Laval in Quebec, Canada and Martin Jeffries of the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska described the event in a paper published in Geophysical Research Letters [ http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2003GL017931 ] on October 18, 2003. This Standard Beam Mode RADARSAT-1 image clearly shows a large crack dividing the ice shelf in half. The crack runs from the Arctic Sea to the right of Ward Hunt Island and the bright white ice grounded there and back to the rougher, mountainous region. The image, acquired September 27, 2003, has a resolution of 25 meters. Image courtesy RADARSAT International [ http://www.rsi.ca/home.htm ]. RADARSAT-1 data © Canadian Space Agency/Agence spatiale canadienne 2003. Received by the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing. Processed and distributed by RADARSAT International. |
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