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Images of Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and Australia and Victoria from 2006
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Drought in Southeastern Aust
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Drought in Southeastern Australia |
| Description |
Global Agricultural Monitoring Project between NASA, USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), and the University of Maryland., Spring started warm and dry in much of Australia. In addition to high land surface temperatures [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17440 ] in September 2006, many of the country's agricultural areas were facing 6- to 12-month rainfall deficiencies that the Australian Bureau of Meteorology categorized as serious, severe, or lowest on record. In southern Western Australia, one of the country's prime wheat-growing regions, rainfall between April and September was less than half the average amounts. Parts of South Australia, much of Victoria, and south-central New South Wales had been racking up deficits for 9 to 12 months or longer. Severe drought had settled over many areas. This image shows the stress on vegetation—predominantly in croplands—in southeastern Australia. The image compares vegetation greenness data collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ], satellite between September 30 and October 15, 2006, to average greenness measured during the same 15-day period from 2000-2005. Satellite vegetation greenness is an indicator of the spatial extent, density, and health of vegetation at the Earth's surface. Places where the greenness was anomalously low are colored brown, places where vegetation was near average are yellow, and the few places where vegetation greenness was higher than average are green. Places where vegetation greenness couldn't be measured, perhaps due to clouds, are colored gray. A wide brown arc reaches from coastal South Australia, eastward through Victoria, and northward into New South Wales. In South Australia, the brown area covers cropland for barley, rapeseed, and wheat. In Victoria, the affected area includes those same crops plus sunflowers. All those same crops are grown in southern New South Wales, but the affected area also includes rice-growing areas. Farther north, closer to the border of Queensland, the brown arc of below-average vegetation conditions covers sorghum- and cotton-growing regions. The rainfall deficits and warm temperatures that are so strongly affecting croplands do not appear to be having as extreme an effect on natural vegetation. For example, at the border of South Australia and Victoria, several roughly rectangular areas show near-average vegetation conditions (yellow). The rectangles of comparatively normal vegetation trace out several National Parks. The brown arc extending from Victoria into New South Wales is inland of The Great Dividing Range Mountains, which follow the coastline of eastern and southeastern Australia. These mountains, home to many parks and protected areas, do a good job of ringing rainfall out of moist air coming in off the ocean, and this coastal area appears not as severely stressed as the inland crop-growing regions. Australia is prone to drought because of its geographic location. Much of Australia lies in a latitude belt that is under the influence of an atmospheric phenomenon known as the subtropical high. Just outside of the tropics in each hemisphere lies a swath of the globe where air frequently sinks toward the Earth's surface from higher in the atmosphere. The air warms and dries as it sinks, creating semi-permanent zones of high air pressure at the surface. These subtropical highs are areas of stable, warm, and dry air that favor clear skies and little rainfall. (In the Northern Hemisphere, several large deserts, including the Sahara, reside in the latitudes of the subtropical high.) Many drought episodes in the eastern and northern part of the Australia are linked to El Niño episodes. A relatively mild El Niño [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17419 ] was underway in late 2006. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided by Inbal Reshef as part of the |
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Drought in Southeastern Aust
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| Title |
Drought in Southeastern Australia |
| Description |
Rainfall in southeastern Australia in 2006 was well below average, and average temperatures for the continent in November 2006 hit a record high. The climate punished vegetation across the region. In November 2006, observations of vegetation conditions captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite revealed how vegetation was struggling across much of the region. The image compares conditions in 2006 to the average November conditions from 2000-2005. All the brown areas indicate less abundant vegetation than the average. Only small, faint areas of slightly above-average vegetation conditions (green) are visible in a few locations. Gray areas indicate patches of missing data, perhaps due to persistent clouds or extremely bright soils (such as dry, salt-covered lake beds.) In many cases, areas of natural vegetation fared better than agricultural lands, appearing yellowish (average) or very light brown (slightly below average). In some cases, the locations of national parks are as obvious as if their boundaries had been drawn on the map. For example, in western Victoria, where wheat and other cereal grains are grown, the Little Desert, Grampians (southeast of Little Desert, not labeled), and Otway National Parks stand out as yellow or even yellow-green patches amid the dark brown swath of the croplands. In eastern Victoria and southern New South Wales, the vegetation of the Great Dividing Range Mountains, which run through Alpine and Kosciuszko National Parks, appears to be far closer to average conditions for this time of year than the vegetation in the inland grain-growing areas. This difference isn't surprising since native vegetation is better adapted to Australia's regularly occurring dry spells, whereas crops often depend on irrigation that can be difficult to sustain in drought conditions. The difference in greenness between native vegetation and cropland may not just be because native vegetation is better adapted to drought, however. Research in southwestern Australia indicates that the replacement of dark-colored native vegetation with paler agricultural crops, such as wheat, has changed where rain falls. The large-scale, over-turning motion of heated air (convection) that produces rain clouds occurs less often over croplands than over native vegetation. Models and observations suggest that converting natural vegetation to croplands actually reduced the amount of rainfall in those areas. Perhaps a similar effect has taken place in the region pictured here, as well. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided by Inbal Reshef as part of the Global Agricultural Monitoring Project [ http://www.pecad.fas.usda.gov/glam.cfm ] between NASA, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), and the University of Maryland. |
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Drought in Southeastern Aust
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| Title |
Drought in Southeastern Australia |
| Description |
Deep red paints the coastal mountains of southeastern Australia, hangs over the continent's arid interior, and dots much of the rest of the land in this image, indicating that unusually high temperatures reigned in November 2006. According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, the monthly average temperature for the country hit a record high in November. The average temperature for the continent was 2.11 degrees Celsius warmer than average, with local temperatures rising more than 4 degrees C above average for the month in places. These abnormally high air temperatures are reflected in the extreme land surface temperatures shown in this image. The land is usually much warmer to the touch than the temperature recorded by a thermometer hanging above the ground, and so, during November, land surface temperatures in Australia were as much as 10 degrees Celsius above a five-year average. The greatest deviation from normal temperatures is shown in dark red in this image. Average temperatures are white, and cooler-than-average temperatures are blue. The temperature data were collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite. The temperature anomaly was greatest in the Great Dividing Range, which curves along the coasts of Victoria and New South Wales in southeast Australia. The heat and a lack of spring rain may have primed the mountains for devastating wildfires. By the end of December, several large wildfires [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14029 ] raced through the mountains, threatening local communities and clouding the skies over much of southeastern Australia with dense smoke. The high temperatures in the Great Dividing Range and elsewhere were just part of an unusually warm and dry spring, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13943 ] which in turn, was an extension of a dry year. Some of the dryness may be linked to a weak El Niñno in the Pacific Ocean. El Niñno is a regular climate pattern during which sea surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean near the equator heat up and trade winds weaken. Though the effects of El Niñno vary, the phenomenon often changes rainfall patterns around the world. In Australia, El Niñno often brings a dry winter and spring. It is also linked to an increase in the number of extreme fire days, during which conditions are hot, dry, and windy. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided courtesy of Zhengming Wan, MODIS Land Surface Temperature Group, Institute for Computational Earth System Science [ http://www.icess.ucsb.edu/ ], University of California, Santa Barbara. |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
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Fires in Victoria, Australia |
| Description |
Bushfires were burning out of control in several locations in southern Australia in mid-January 2006. Firefighters faced blazes across southern Western Australia, South Australia, and Victoria, which is pictured in this image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite. The image was captured on January 22. Actively burning fires detected by MODIS are outlined in red, and most of the fires are accompanied by long plumes of smoke blowing southeast. The city of Melbourne sit roughly in the center of the scene, wrapped around the northern coast of keyhole-shaped Port Phillip Bay. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team. |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
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Fires in Victoria, Australia |
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In southwestern Victoria, Australia, a dangerous wildfire was raging on January 24, 2006, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite passed overhead and collected this image. The dark green vegetation of Grampians National Park is shrouded with smoke that drifts hundreds of kilometers to the north before crossing westward into South Australia. The actively burning areas of the fire detected by MODIS are outlined in red. According to a news report [ http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200601/s1553619.htm ] from January 24, more than a dozen houses had been lost in the fire, which had burned more than 90,000 hectares (900 square kilometers, which is a little more than 222,000 acres). NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
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Fires in Victoria, Australia |
| Description |
The wildfire activity in Victoria, Australia, continued to worsen on Thursday, January 26, 2006. According to news reports, the fire in the Grampians National Park, pictured here, intensified and spotted beyond containment lines that firefighters had created to check the blaze. Numerous, widely scattered "hot spots" are visible in this image, which is made from visible and infrared wavelengths of light detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite on January 26. Red outlines enclose areas where MODIS detected fires, and in this type of image, the bright pink glow usually indicates areas of open flame. Unburned vegetation is bright green, and smoke is blue. The large image shows several additional fires burning in the state, including a large blaze northeast of the coastal city of Melbourne and one farther east in the Gippsland region, both of which have been threatening nearby towns in recent days. A natural-color image from the MODIS Rapid Response Team shows smoke spreading southward toward Tasmania. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
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Fires in Victoria, Australia |
| Description |
On January 30, 2006, the smoke died down and the clouds cleared over Grampians National Park in western Victoria, Australia. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite captured this image revealing the large area burned by a wildfire in previous weeks. Using a combination of visible light and shortwave and near-infrared energy detected by the sensor, this image shows the burned area in bright red and unburned vegetation in bright green. Areas where vegetation is naturally sparse are light tan, sometimes tinged with green or pink. According to reports [ http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/dse/nrenfoe.nsf/childdocs/-05D409B0BFBBAD5BCA256DA600074990?open ] from the state government's Department of Sustainability and the Environment, the fire had scorched about 130,000 hectares (1,300 square kilometers, or about 321,237 acres) as of January 30. This image shows the area at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The large image shows a wider area of the state. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?Australia6 ] of this area in a variety of formats. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
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Fires in Victoria, Australia |
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In the forested mountains of Victoria's Gippsland region, several fires were burning on April 19, 2006, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite passed over. Places where the sensor detected actively burning fires are marked in red. Plumes of bluish smoke drift southeastward over the Tasman Sea. The westernmost fire in the scene is burning west of the town of Dargo, and it was started by an abandoned campfire, according to news reports [ http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200604/s1618903.htm ] from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Website. The high-resolution image provided above has a spatial resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?Australia6/ ] of the area in a variety of resolutions and formats. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
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Fires in Victoria, Australia |
| Description |
A river of smoke more than 25 kilometers wide flowed southeast toward the Tasman Sea from fires burning in the Great Dividing Range Mountains in Victoria, Australia, on December 5, 2006. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite shows the smoke crossing Ninety Mile Beach and spreading out over the sea. Fires (red outlines) were detected across a broad area of the mountains between Lake Eildon and the Dartmouth Reservoir. According to news reports, 50 fires—most of them in remote forests and parks—were burning out of control across Victoria in early December, and fire conditions were predicted to worsen in subsequent days. Across Australia in 2006, fires sprang up before summer was even officially underway. An ongoing drought and high temperatures have created extremely risky conditions for fires in many parts of the country. In late November and early December, satellites captured numerous images of fires in places as far flung as northwestern Australia and Southern Queensland. (See other images in the Natural Hazards: Fires [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?topic=fire ] section.) In most of Victoria (among other places in the country), rainfall in the six months preceding the outbreak of these fires was categorized as either at a "severe deficiency" or "lowest on record," according to maps [ http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/climate/rainmaps.cgi ] provided by the Website of the Australian government's Bureau of Meteorology. The Bureau's November 22, 2006, seasonal El Niño-Southern Oscillation update [ http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/ ] indicated that the current El Niño had strengthened throughout November. A strong El Niño could be bad news for firefighters in southeastern Australia. According to the Bureau of Meteorology Website, "El Niño events are associated with an increase in the number of extreme fire-risk days over southeastern Australia, that is, days which are hot, dry and windy." The high-resolution image provided above has a spatial resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides twice-daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?Australia6 ] of the area in additional resolutions. A 250-meter-resolution KMZ file [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/Images/Australia.A2006339.0050.250m.kmz ] of the Victorian fires is available for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html ] NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
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Fires in Victoria, Australia |
| Description |
Huge clouds of smoke from numerous fires in Victoria billowed over the state and into neighboring New South Wales on December 7, 2006. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite shows active fire locations that MODIS detected outlined in red. Brownish-gray smoke hides the mountains where the fires were burning. Much of the area is park and reserve land, and it is rugged and remote, making control difficult. Fire behavior was extreme, according to fire officials, heat generated by the fires caused strong updrafts that picked up embers and spread them in all direction. Fire activity was predicted to intensify over the weekend. The high-resolution image provided above has a spatial resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides twice-daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/fas/?SEAustralia3 ] in a variety of resolutions and formats. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
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Fires in Victoria, Australia |
| Description |
Clouds over the December 16-17 weekend may have kept temperatures down a bit, but they apparently did little to quench dozens of large fires raging in the Barry Mountains of Victoria, Australia. This image of the area was captured on December 18, 2006, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite. Places where MODIS detected actively burning fires are outlined in red. Thick smoke billows eastward from the fires across Victoria and New South Wales. Fires burned throughout the state during December. The large image provided above has a spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. An image from the previous satellite overpass was stitched to the east (right) edge to show the extent of the smoke over the Tasman Sea. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides twice-daily [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?Australia6 ] images of the region in additional resolutions and formats, including an infrared-enhanced version that highlights burned areas and openly flaming fire fronts. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
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Fires in Victoria, Australia |
| Description |
Between Lake Eildon and the Dartmouth Reservoir in Victoria, Australia, dozens of active fires churned out thick clouds of smoke in early December. In remote, rugged terrain in the Great Dividing Range Mountains, firefighters battled the blazes in hot, windy conditions. This image of the area was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite on December 10, 2006. Places where MODIS detected actively burning fire are marked with red outlines. The smoke pours southeast over the Bass Strait. Puffy towers of clouds are embedded in the smoke, these clouds may be the result of strong updrafts and aerosols (particles in the air that can act as "seeds" for cloud droplets) produced by the fires themselves, or they may be part of the larger-scale weather pattern over the area. The next day, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/fas/?SEAustralia3/2006345 ] a swath of clouds over the region may have provided some relief for firefighters. The large image provided above has a spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides twice-daily [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/fas/?SEAustralia3/ ] images of the region in additional resolutions. A 250-meter-resolution KMZ file [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Dec2006/Australia.A2006344.0345.250m.kmz ] is available for use with Google Earth. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
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Fires in Victoria, Australia |
| Description |
Thick smoke hung over Victoria and spread eastward to the Tasman Sea on December 8, 2006. When the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite passed over head that morning and captured this image, only a few of the active fires (marked in red) could be detected through the smoke. Although Melbourne had been spared the thick smoke on previous days, on this morning, the plume was encroaching on the northeast edge of the metro area. Skies over the Snowy Range Mountains in New South Wales cleared to the north. At least 50 fires were burning in early December in Victoria, and many were threatening to merge into unified, large blazes. Weather conditions over the weekend were predicted to deteriorate, making the work of firefighters even more difficult. High temperatures and far-below-average rainfall in the area have elevated the late spring fire hazard across the region. The high-resolution image provided above has a spatial resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides twice-daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?Australia6 ] of the area in additional resolutions. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
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Fires in Victoria, Australia |
| Description |
Australian firefighters have been battling huge fires in remote forests and parks in the Barry Mountains (part of the Great Dividing Range) of Victoria since early December 2006. Toward the middle of the month, fires began threatening small communities, and several houses were destroyed. This pair of images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite was captured on December 14, 2006. The top image is natural color, similar to a digital photo, while the bottom image uses both visible and infrared light to thin the smoke and highlight burning areas. Red outlines trace the boundaries of areas where MODIS detected actively burning fires. Inside the fire outlines in the false-color image, bright pink glows often indicate open flame. These glows appear in places not surrounded by red fire outlines, which suggests the smoke was too thick for the software that interprets the MODIS data to confidently label the area as fire. Fires are spread over a wide area. Mount Beauty, Dargo, and several small communities along the Macalister River are among those most threatened by the fires. The large image provided above has a spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides twice-daily [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/fas/?SEAustralia3/2006348 ] images of the region in additional resolutions. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
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Fires in Victoria, Australia |
| Description |
A river of smoke more than 250 kilometers wide flowed northwest across the Victoria-New South Wales border on December 12, 2006, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite passed over head and captured this image. Bushfires had been burning in the Great Dividing Range Mountains for nearly two weeks. Places where MODIS detected actively burning fire on this day are outlined in red. It's likely that additional fires that couldn't be detected through the very thick smoke were burning in the area east of Lake Eildon. According to news reports, army bulldozers were arriving in the area to construct fire breaks in the watershed area north of Lake Thomson, which provides a significant portion of Melbourne's water supply. The large image provided above has a spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides twice-daily [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?Australia6/ ] images of the region in additional resolutions. A 250-meter-resolution KMZ file [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Dec2006/Australia.A2006346.0055.250m.kmz ] of the Victoria fires is available for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html ] NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
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Fires in Victoria, Australia |
| Description |
Throughout December 2006, large bushfires raged through national parks and other remote areas of Victoria's Barry Mountains. Despite the fact that summer was not officially underway, the late spring weather was extremely challenging for firefighters: hot, windy, and dry. Rough estimates based on preliminary maps from the government's Victoria Parks [ http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/1park_display.cfm ] Website indicated that more than 470,000 hectares (close to 1.2 million acres) had burned as of December 15. This image from NASA's Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov ] on the agency's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite shows fires burning in the heart of Alpine National Park, roughly 57 kilometers (a little over 35 miles) southeast of the town of Mansfield. The image uses not only visible light detected by ASTER, but also shortwave- and near-infrared light. Vegetation appears red, burned areas appear charcoal, bare ground (including roads) appears light beige, and smoke is gray. Plumes of smoke from individual fires billow southeast (the image is rotated counterclockwise off North) and spread into a blanket of haze. Alpine is Victoria's largest national park, covering 646,000 hectares (nearly 1.6 million acres) of the state's highest mountains. A mixture of alpine and sub-alpine ecosystems exists in the park, including snow gum (a kind of eucalyptus) forest and high plains covered by grasslands. More than 1,000 species of native plants live within the park, as well as threatened and rare animals. Many areas and roads in the park were closed because of the dangerous fire conditions. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided courtesy of NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and the U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
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Fires in Victoria, Australia |
| Description |
Fires in Victoria continued to rage on December 20, 2006. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] shows smoke swirling over the state and spreading westward over Melbourne. Places where MODIS detected actively burning fires are outlined in red. These fires have been burning since the beginning of the month, as dry, hot, windy conditions prevailed across the region. Although this part of Victoria is largely national parks and other natural areas, there are many small towns and communities scattered throughout the region that have been endangered by the fires. The high-resolution image provided above has a spatial resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides twice-daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/fas/?SEAustralia3/ ] of the area in a variety of resolutions and formats. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
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Fires in Victoria, Australia |
| Description |
Rivers of smoke up to 50 kilometers (31 miles) wide poured from burning areas in Victoria's Great Dividing Range Mountains on January 11, 2007, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite passed overhead and captured this image. Places where MODIS detected actively burning fires are outlined in red. Many fires were burning dangerously close to Lake Thomson, the principal source of water for the city of Melbourne (beyond the western edge of the image). According to news reports on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Website, a change in winds overnight between January 11 and 12 eased the fire threat somewhat, but both stock and pasture were lost to flames in previous days. The moderated conditions allowed firefighters to conduct backburns (controlled burns of areas in the path of the wildfires) and build containment lines. Still, the danger of these fires, some of which have been burning in the region since early December 2006, remains high. Hundreds of thousands of hectares (1 hectare is about 2.5 acres) have been burned in Victoria since late 2006. Extremely dry, windy, and hot conditions since spring have kept the fire danger extreme across much of the region for weeks at a time. According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, extreme fire conditions in the area are more common during years when El Niño events occur. During the fall and early winter (2006-2007), an El Niño likely influenced the area's climate. However, according to the Bureau's most recent (January 10, 2007) update, the ongoing El Niño appeared to be weakening, which they said "bodes well for a switch towards wetter conditions across Australia sometime in the late summer or autumn." NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
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Fires in Victoria, Australia |
| Description |
Clouds had been hiding Victoria from the view of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites in previous weeks, but when the skies cleared on January 10, 2007, it was obvious that fires that had been burning in the area since early December 2006 were still raging. Places where Terra MODIS detected actively burning fires are outlined in red. Rivers of smoke pour from the burning vegetation. Although vegetation in this dry part of the world doesn't appear as vibrantly green as forests in wetter parts of the world, there is nevertheless a clear difference between forests that have burned and those that have not burned (or were lightly burned). The unburned areas appear dark green, while the burned areas appear brown. A huge swath of the Great Dividing Range Mountains between Lake Eildon and the town of Omeo burned in late 2006 and early 2007. The fires may continue for several months. The high-resolution image provided above has a spatial resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides twice-daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/fas/?SEAustralia3/2007010/FAS_SEAustralia3.2007010.terra ] of the area in a variety of resolutions and formats, including an infrared-enhanced version that makes the burn scar more obvious. A 250-meter-resolution KMZ file [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Jan2007/Australia.A2007010.0025.250m.kmz ] of the Victorian fires is available for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html ] NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
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Fires in Victoria, Australia |
| Description |
Fires that began in early December 2006 were still raging through the Great Dividing Range Mountains of eastern Victoria, Australia, on January 16, 2007. This image of the region was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite just before 11:00 a.m. local time. Places where MODIS detected actively burning fires are outlined in red. The forested mountains were green where they had not burned and deep brown where the fires had scorched them. Homes and livestock were lost near Tatong on January 16, when strong winds and high temperatures increased fire activity. The large image provided above has a spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides twice-daily images of the region in additional resolutions. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center |
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Vegetation Struggles in Sout
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| Title |
Vegetation Struggles in Southeastern Australia |
| Description |
Rainfall in southeastern Australia in 2006 was well below average, and average temperatures for the continent in November 2006 hit a record high. The climate punished vegetation across the region. In November 2006, observations of vegetation conditions captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite revealed how vegetation was struggling across much of the region. The image compares conditions in 2006 to the average November conditions from 2000-2005. All the brown areas indicate less abundant vegetation than the average. Only small, faint areas of slightly above-average vegetation conditions (green) are visible in a few locations. Gray areas indicate patches of missing data, perhaps due to persistent clouds or extremely bright soils (such as dry, salt-covered lake beds.) In many cases, areas of natural vegetation fared better than agricultural lands, appearing yellowish (average) or very light brown (slightly below average). In some cases, the locations of national parks are as obvious as if their boundaries had been drawn on the map. For example, in western Victoria, where wheat and other cereal grains are grown, the Little Desert, Grampians (southeast of Little Desert, not labeled), and Otway National Parks stand out as yellow or even yellow-green patches amid the dark brown swath of the croplands. In eastern Victoria and southern New South Wales, the vegetation of the Great Dividing Range Mountains, which run through Alpine and Kosciuszko National Parks, appears to be far closer to average conditions for this time of year than the vegetation in the inland grain-growing areas. This difference isn't surprising since native vegetation is better adapted to Australia's regularly occurring dry spells, whereas crops often depend on irrigation that can be difficult to sustain in drought conditions. The difference in greenness between native vegetation and cropland may not just be because native vegetation is better adapted to drought, however. Research in southwestern Australia indicates that the replacement of dark-colored native vegetation with paler agricultural crops, such as wheat, has changed where rain falls. The large-scale, over-turning motion of heated air (convection) that produces rain clouds occurs less often over croplands than over native vegetation. Models and observations suggest that converting natural vegetation to croplands actually reduced the amount of rainfall in those areas. Perhaps a similar effect has taken place in the region pictured here, as well. |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
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nasa, nasanaturalhazards
According to reports from th
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Australia5.AMO2006025
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006-01-25 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
Australia5.AMO2006025 |
|
Fires in Victoria, Australia
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Australian firefighters have
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SEAustralia3_TMO_2006348
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006-12-14 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
SEAustralia3_TMO_2006348 |
|
Fires in Victoria, Australia
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Thick smoke hung over Victor
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Australia6_TMO_2006342
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006-12-08 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
Australia6_TMO_2006342 |
|
Fires in Victoria, Australia
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
The wildfire activity in Vic
…
Australia6.TMO2006026
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006-01-26 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
Australia6.TMO2006026 |
|
Fires in Victoria, Australia
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
A river of smoke more than 2
…
Australia6_TMO_2006346
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006-12-12 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
Australia6_TMO_2006346 |
|
Fires in Victoria, Australia
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Between Lake Eildon and the
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SEAustralia3_AMO_2006344
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006-12-10 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
SEAustralia3_AMO_2006344 |
|
Fires in Victoria, Australia
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
On January 30, 2006, the smo
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Grampians.AMO2006030
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006-01-30 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
Grampians.AMO2006030 |
|
Fires in Victoria, Australia
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
In southwestern Victoria, Au
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Australia.TMOA2006024
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006-01-24 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
Australia.TMOA2006024 |
|
Fires in Victoria, Australia
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Fires in Victoria continued
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SEAustralia3_TMO_2006354
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006-12-20 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
SEAustralia3_TMO_2006354 |
|
Fires in Victoria, Australia
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Huge clouds of smoke from nu
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SEAustralia3_TMO_2006341
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006-12-07 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
SEAustralia3_TMO_2006341 |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Fires burned across many reg
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SEAustralia3_AMO_2006338
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006-12-04 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
SEAustralia3_AMO_2006338 |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
In the forested mountains of
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Gippsland.AMO2006109
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006-04-19 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
Gippsland.AMO2006109 |
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Fires in Victoria, Australia
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Clouds over the December 16-
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Vict_AMO_2006352
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006-12-18 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
Vict_AMO_2006352 |
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