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Browse All : Images of Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and United States of America and Texas from 2006

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Drought in the Southern Unit …
Title Drought in the Southern United States
Description Rainfall across the United States in the winter of 2005-06 has shown the classic pattern of a La Niña event. La Niña is a climate anomaly (departure from average conditions) that consists of cooler-than-average sea surface temperatures (SSTs) across the central and eastern Pacific and warmer-than-average SSTs over the western Pacific. Changes in the atmospheric circulation occur during La Niña events, as well. These combined ocean-atmosphere changes are likely responsible for the drought in the Southwest, the South, the central Plains, and Florida that has led to several devastating wildfires this season. This image shows where daily rainfall was above and below average in the United States between October 2005 and January 2006 compared to the eight-year average for that time frame. Places where rainfall was above average are in blue and green, while places rainfall was below average are in orange and red. The data are from the Tropical-Rainfall-Measuring-Mission-based, near-real-time, Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The Pacific Northwest (green and blue areas), especially along the coast and over the coastal ranges of Northern California, Oregon, and Washington (blue areas) received more precipitation than usual. Almost the entire rest of the country, barring New England, had below-normal rainfall. The most intense rainfall deficits (orange and red areas) include the area stretching from Texas up through the central Plains and Upper Midwest, as well as the Gulf Coast, most of Florida, and along the southern Atlantic coast. In the Southwest, the rainfall deficit added to the stress of several years of below-average rainfall. Most of Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas, and central Oklahoma have received less than 25 percent of their normal rainfall for the period. The current La Niña is expected to persist for the next several months. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite was launched in November 1997. It measures rainfall over the global tropics using both passive and active sensors, including the first precipitation radar in space. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).
Drought on the Great Plains
Title Drought on the Great Plains
Description Across the Great Plains of the United States and Canada, devastating drought spread across grasslands and croplands in summer 2006. Poor winter snowfall and a blisteringly hot summer [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13742 ] following several years of dry conditions have created a dire situation for many farmers and ranchers across the region. According to a recent article [ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/29/us/29drought.html?ex=1157688000&en=13a216546b7d4243&ei=5070 ] on the New York Times Website, many people are comparing the conditions to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. The widespread drought conditions are obvious in this vegetation anomaly image based on data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite. Places where vegetation is healthier or more abundant than average are green, places where vegetation is about the same as average are pale yellow, and places where vegetation is not as healthy or abundant as average are brown. Gray patches show where no data were available, probably because of persistent clouds. One of the most common satellite-based vegetation maps is a scale, or index, of vegetation greenness called the "NDVI," short for Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. This image compares NDVI values from July 28-August 12, 2006, to the average values from 2001-2005. Vegetation was faring worst along the Missouri River through North and South Dakota, but below-average vegetation conditions stretch across parts of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, northwestern Nebraska, and Minnesota as well. The plains of Canada's Saskatchewan and Manitoba provinces were suffering drought, too. A few small pockets of green in the image reveal where vegetation greenness values observed by MODIS were higher than average: the mountains of north-central Colorado, southeastern Nebraska, and the Red River Valley. The Red River Valley experienced widespread snowfall and heavy rains in the spring of 2006, leading to significant flooding. [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13500 ] The early-season moisture may have helped the vegetation in the area withstand the hot summer. According to the August 29, 2006, update from the U.S. Drought Monitor, [ http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html ] most of the Northern Great Plains, as well as much of Oklahoma and Texas, was still in the midst of drought, with many areas falling into the highest category: exceptional drought. 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, USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), and the University of Maryland.
East Amarillo Complex Fires, …
Title East Amarillo Complex Fires, Texas
Description Strong winds and dry weather propelled fast-moving grass fires in northern Texas on March 12, 2006. This image, taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite, outlines active fires in red. Thick plumes of grey and white smoke stream away from the fires. These fires are burning in the northern panhandle of Texas, northeast of the city of Amarillo. The northern part of the fire complex is burning near Borger, Texas, about 10 kilometers east of Lake Meredith (shown in the large image). The southern fire is near Interstate 40, near the town of Jericho. At least seven people have died in fires across the Southern Plains, four in a traffic accident on Interstate 40 when thick smoke suddenly shifted across the road, the Associated Press reported. The National Interagency Fire Center reported 168 fires in the Southern United States early on March 13, and one of the largest was the East Amarillo Complex fire, shown here. The fire had burned 100,000 acres of grassland, and forced the evacuation of multiple towns. The large image provided above has a resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides the image in additional resolutions. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.n,asa.ov ], NASA-GSFC
Severe Thunderstorms over th …
Title Severe Thunderstorms over the Southeastern United States
Description Up to ten inches of rain fell over parts of Houston, Texas, between October 10 and October 17, 2006. The rain fell as a line of strong storms, fueled by moisture being pulled up from the Gulf of Mexico, swept across the southeastern United States. Several tornados and deadly flooding were reported across the region. Four people died as a result of the flooding around Houston, said news reports. The top image shows rainfall totals over the southeastern United States for October 10 through October 17, 2006. The rainfall totals come from the near-real-time, Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis, which is partially based on rainfall measurements made by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]). The highest totals, shown in red, are around 12 inches (300 millimeters) and occur over north-central Louisiana. Ten-inch (250-millimeter) amounts (lighter red) are visible north of Galveston Bay, and most of eastern Texas and western Louisiana received at least 5 inches (130 millimeters) of rain (green areas). The lower image provides a snapshot of the line of storms at 11:17 p.m. Central Daylight Time on October 16 (4:17 UTC on October 17), as the storm system was passing through central Louisiana. Taken by the instruments on the TRMM satellite, the image shows rain intensity associated with the advancing line of storms. The rains are stretched out in a long, broken line of storms extending from the northwestern Gulf of Mexico through central Louisiana and into southwestern Mississippi. The line of intense rain (dark reds) is relatively thin across Louisiana. A broader area of weaker rain (wide blue and green area) extends farther north. Rain rates in the center swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar, a unique space-borne precipitation radar, while rain rates in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager. The rain rates are overlaid on infrared data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner. TRMM was placed into service in November of 1997. From its low-earth orbit, TRMM has been measuring rainfall over the global tropics using a combination of passive microwave and active radar sensors. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).
Severe Thunderstorms over th …
Title Severe Thunderstorms over the Southeastern United States
Description Up to ten inches of rain fell over parts of Houston, Texas, between October 10 and October 17, 2006. The rain fell as a line of strong storms, fueled by moisture being pulled up from the Gulf of Mexico, swept across the southeastern United States. Several tornados and deadly flooding were reported across the region. Four people died as a result of the flooding around Houston, said news reports. The top image shows rainfall totals over the southeastern United States for October 10 through October 17, 2006. The rainfall totals come from the near-real-time, Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis, which is partially based on rainfall measurements made by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]). The highest totals, shown in red, are around 12 inches (300 millimeters) and occur over north-central Louisiana. Ten-inch (250-millimeter) amounts (lighter red) are visible north of Galveston Bay, and most of eastern Texas and western Louisiana received at least 5 inches (130 millimeters) of rain (green areas). The lower image provides a snapshot of the line of storms at 11:17 p.m. Central Daylight Time on October 16 (4:17 UTC on October 17), as the storm system was passing through central Louisiana. Taken by the instruments on the TRMM satellite, the image shows rain intensity associated with the advancing line of storms. The rains are stretched out in a long, broken line of storms extending from the northwestern Gulf of Mexico through central Louisiana and into southwestern Mississippi. The line of intense rain (dark reds) is relatively thin across Louisiana. A broader area of weaker rain (wide blue and green area) extends farther north. Rain rates in the center swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar, a unique space-borne precipitation radar, while rain rates in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager. The rain rates are overlaid on infrared data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner. TRMM was placed into service in November of 1997. From its low-earth orbit, TRMM has been measuring rainfall over the global tropics using a combination of passive microwave and active radar sensors. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).
Severe Thunderstorms over th …
Title Severe Thunderstorms over the Southeastern United States
Description Up to ten inches of rain fell over parts of Houston, Texas, between October 10 and October 17, 2006. The rain fell as a line of strong storms, fueled by moisture being pulled up from the Gulf of Mexico, swept across the southeastern United States. Several tornados and deadly flooding were reported across the region. Four people died as a result of the flooding around Houston, said news reports. The top image shows rainfall totals over the southeastern United States for October 10 through October 17, 2006. The rainfall totals come from the near-real-time, Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis, which is partially based on rainfall measurements made by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]). The highest totals, shown in red, are around 12 inches (300 millimeters) and occur over north-central Louisiana. Ten-inch (250-millimeter) amounts (lighter red) are visible north of Galveston Bay, and most of eastern Texas and western Louisiana received at least 5 inches (130 millimeters) of rain (green areas). The lower image provides a snapshot of the line of storms at 11:17 p.m. Central Daylight Time on October 16 (4:17 UTC on October 17), as the storm system was passing through central Louisiana. Taken by the instruments on the TRMM satellite, the image shows rain intensity associated with the advancing line of storms. The rains are stretched out in a long, broken line of storms extending from the northwestern Gulf of Mexico through central Louisiana and into southwestern Mississippi. The line of intense rain (dark reds) is relatively thin across Louisiana. A broader area of weaker rain (wide blue and green area) extends farther north. Rain rates in the center swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar, a unique space-borne precipitation radar, while rain rates in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager. The rain rates are overlaid on infrared data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner. TRMM was placed into service in November of 1997. From its low-earth orbit, TRMM has been measuring rainfall over the global tropics using a combination of passive microwave and active radar sensors. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).
Severe Thunderstorms over th …
Title Severe Thunderstorms over the Southeastern United States
Description Up to ten inches of rain fell over parts of Houston, Texas, between October 10 and October 17, 2006. The rain fell as a line of strong storms, fueled by moisture being pulled up from the Gulf of Mexico, swept across the southeastern United States. Several tornados and deadly flooding were reported across the region. Four people died as a result of the flooding around Houston, said news reports. The top image shows rainfall totals over the southeastern United States for October 10 through October 17, 2006. The rainfall totals come from the near-real-time, Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis, which is partially based on rainfall measurements made by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]). The highest totals, shown in red, are around 12 inches (300 millimeters) and occur over north-central Louisiana. Ten-inch (250-millimeter) amounts (lighter red) are visible north of Galveston Bay, and most of eastern Texas and western Louisiana received at least 5 inches (130 millimeters) of rain (green areas). The lower image provides a snapshot of the line of storms at 11:17 p.m. Central Daylight Time on October 16 (4:17 UTC on October 17), as the storm system was passing through central Louisiana. Taken by the instruments on the TRMM satellite, the image shows rain intensity associated with the advancing line of storms. The rains are stretched out in a long, broken line of storms extending from the northwestern Gulf of Mexico through central Louisiana and into southwestern Mississippi. The line of intense rain (dark reds) is relatively thin across Louisiana. A broader area of weaker rain (wide blue and green area) extends farther north. Rain rates in the center swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar, a unique space-borne precipitation radar, while rain rates in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager. The rain rates are overlaid on infrared data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner. TRMM was placed into service in November of 1997. From its low-earth orbit, TRMM has been measuring rainfall over the global tropics using a combination of passive microwave and active radar sensors. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).
Severe Thunderstorms over th …
Title Severe Thunderstorms over the Southeastern United States
Description Up to ten inches of rain fell over parts of Houston, Texas, between October 10 and October 17, 2006. The rain fell as a line of strong storms, fueled by moisture being pulled up from the Gulf of Mexico, swept across the southeastern United States. Several tornados and deadly flooding were reported across the region. Four people died as a result of the flooding around Houston, said news reports. The top image shows rainfall totals over the southeastern United States for October 10 through October 17, 2006. The rainfall totals come from the near-real-time, Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis, which is partially based on rainfall measurements made by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]). The highest totals, shown in red, are around 12 inches (300 millimeters) and occur over north-central Louisiana. Ten-inch (250-millimeter) amounts (lighter red) are visible north of Galveston Bay, and most of eastern Texas and western Louisiana received at least 5 inches (130 millimeters) of rain (green areas). The lower image provides a snapshot of the line of storms at 11:17 p.m. Central Daylight Time on October 16 (4:17 UTC on October 17), as the storm system was passing through central Louisiana. Taken by the instruments on the TRMM satellite, the image shows rain intensity associated with the advancing line of storms. The rains are stretched out in a long, broken line of storms extending from the northwestern Gulf of Mexico through central Louisiana and into southwestern Mississippi. The line of intense rain (dark reds) is relatively thin across Louisiana. A broader area of weaker rain (wide blue and green area) extends farther north. Rain rates in the center swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar, a unique space-borne precipitation radar, while rain rates in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager. The rain rates are overlaid on infrared data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner. TRMM was placed into service in November of 1997. From its low-earth orbit, TRMM has been measuring rainfall over the global tropics using a combination of passive microwave and active radar sensors. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).
Severe Thunderstorms over th …
Title Severe Thunderstorms over the Southeastern United States
Description Up to ten inches of rain fell over parts of Houston, Texas, between October 10 and October 17, 2006. The rain fell as a line of strong storms, fueled by moisture being pulled up from the Gulf of Mexico, swept across the southeastern United States. Several tornados and deadly flooding were reported across the region. Four people died as a result of the flooding around Houston, said news reports. The top image shows rainfall totals over the southeastern United States for October 10 through October 17, 2006. The rainfall totals come from the near-real-time, Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis, which is partially based on rainfall measurements made by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]). The highest totals, shown in red, are around 12 inches (300 millimeters) and occur over north-central Louisiana. Ten-inch (250-millimeter) amounts (lighter red) are visible north of Galveston Bay, and most of eastern Texas and western Louisiana received at least 5 inches (130 millimeters) of rain (green areas). The lower image provides a snapshot of the line of storms at 11:17 p.m. Central Daylight Time on October 16 (4:17 UTC on October 17), as the storm system was passing through central Louisiana. Taken by the instruments on the TRMM satellite, the image shows rain intensity associated with the advancing line of storms. The rains are stretched out in a long, broken line of storms extending from the northwestern Gulf of Mexico through central Louisiana and into southwestern Mississippi. The line of intense rain (dark reds) is relatively thin across Louisiana. A broader area of weaker rain (wide blue and green area) extends farther north. Rain rates in the center swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar, a unique space-borne precipitation radar, while rain rates in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager. The rain rates are overlaid on infrared data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner. TRMM was placed into service in November of 1997. From its low-earth orbit, TRMM has been measuring rainfall over the global tropics using a combination of passive microwave and active radar sensors. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).
Smoke over Southern United S …
Title Smoke over Southern United States
Description A thick cloud of aerosols hung over part of North America on March 12, 2006. Aerosols, tiny particles suspended in the atmosphere, can result from a variety of sources, including dust storms, pollution, and smoke. This aerosol cloud, extending from northern Mexico through Kansas, likely resulted in a large part from fires [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13411 ] in Texas and Oklahoma. Windy conditions that helped spread some wildfires might also have lofted dust particles into the air. The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) [ http://aura.gsfc.nasa.gov/instruments/omi/index.html ] flying onboard the Aura [ http://aura.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html ] satellite captured this image on March 12, 2006. This false-color image shows the thickness of dust, smoke, or pollution in the atmosphere. The most intense aerosol concentrations appear in bright red, followed by yellow and green. A band of thick aerosols appears just south of a large swath of cloud cover (appearing in white) in the Midwestern United States. This aerosol cloud, stretching from the New Mexico-Mexico border northeast into Kansas, shows patches of high concentrations throughout, although the biggest patches of intense aerosols appear in Oklahoma and Kansas. More diffuse aerosol clouds appear throughout North America, extending into Canada. Images courtesy Colin Seftor and Omar Torres, Aura Science Team.
Fires in Southern United Sta …
Title Fires in Southern United States
Description The combination of parched vegetation and gusty winds that caused dozens of devastating fires in New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma in the first week of 2006 has brought a similar fate to a wider area of the southern United States in the second week of January. Among the newly affected states is Arkansas. This image shows the southeast corner of the state, near the border with Louisiana. Two large fires were detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite when it collected this image on January 8, 2006. The image has been enhanced by the inclusion of shortwave and near-infrared energy that MODIS detected. Vegetation appears bright green, bare or thinly vegetated ground is tan, water is dark blue, and the actively burning areas of the fire appear bright pink (outlined in red). The image is shown at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?USA7 ] of the area in a variety of formats. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center
Fires in Southern United Sta …
Title Fires in Southern United States
Description Wildfires raced across the grasslands of Oklahoma and northern Texas in late 2005 and early 2006. Extremely dry, windy conditions created a fire hazard, and several small towns were devastated as out-of-control fires sped across the landscape. This false-color image captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite on January 3, 2006, shows the plains of Oklahoma between Tulsa (upper right) and Oklahoma City (left) dotted with burn scars from recent fires (brownish red patches). NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/ ] of this region.
Fires in Southern United Sta …
Title Fires in Southern United States
Description Dry conditions and gusty winds are fanning fast-moving grassland fires in southern Oklahoma and northern Texas in the first part of 2006. Several ranching and farm communities have been devastated by the blazes, some of which were as large as 40,000 acres according to local news reports. This image of the south-central United States on January 2, 2006, shows several fires in Oklahoma (north) and Texas (south). The image and fire detections (marked in red) were captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite. Just south of the border between the two states, a thin, brown burn scar marks the location of the small town of Ringgold, Texas, which, according to news reports, was almost completely destroyed by a grassland fire on January 1, 2006. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team.
Fires in Southern United Sta …
Title Fires in Southern United States
Description Drought, high temperatures, and strong winds combined with holiday fireworks, trash fires, and careless cigarettes to create a disaster in parts of Texas and Oklahoma in late December 2005. According to the Associated Press, more than 70 fires blazed throughout north and central Texas and Oklahoma, many of them set by people ignoring local fire bans. By December 29, nearly 20,000 acres had burned in the region, more than 100 homes had been lost, and several people had died from fire-related injuries. This image shows parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, as imaged by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] flying onboard the Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite. The sensor took this image on December 28, 2005, the same day that the fires caused the most damage. Cloud cover obscures part of the region, but hot spots, indicated in red, appear throughout the area, many of them sending up their own plumes of smoke. North and central Texas, where most of the fires occurred, saw its fifth driest year on record in 2005. In the Dallas-Forth Worth area, annual rainfall was about 41 centimeters (16 inches) below normal. In Oklahoma, the annual rainfall was about 30 centimeters (12 inches) below normal. Shortly before the grass fires spread throughout the region, local temperatures topped 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) and worsened the already-dry conditions. The wind and heat abated somewhat after the fires started, but the National Weather Service predicted a return of heat and wind right before New Year's Day of 2006. Authorities expressed concern that a fresh round of holiday fireworks could touch off a fresh round of fires. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team.
Fires in Southern United Sta …
Title Fires in Southern United States
Description On January 2, 2006, winds whipped a fast-moving fire across the grasslands just south of the Red River, which marks the border between Oklahoma and Texas. According to reports from the Associated Press, the fire nearly razed the small ranch town of Ringgold, Texas, destroying as many as 50 homes and most of the buildings along the small town's Main Street. The fire scorched tens of thousands of acres between Ringgold and the town of Nocona, to the southeast. The charcoal-colored burn scar slices through the center of this image, captured on January 8, 2006, by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite. To make the burn scar stand out more prominently, the image was enhanced with the sensor's observations of near- and shortwave-infrared energy as well as visible light. Winter-bare ground is tan and brown, while patches of red indicate growing vegetation, probably irrigated crops. The small town of Nocona appears as a cement-gray splash at lower right of the scene, while the location of Ringgold is obscured by a cloud at image left. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor [ http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/archive/2006/drmon0103.htm ] map for January 3, drought stretched across the south-central United States in the first of January, affecting Arizona, southern Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and western Arkansas. A pocket of Exceptional Drought—the highest drought category on the scale—spanned northeastern Texas, southeastern Oklahoma, and intruded a short distance into western Arkansas. The lack of rain, high temperatures, and strong winds were a menace for firefighters across the region, who continued to battle grassland and other wildfires through the first part of the month. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided courtesy of the NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
Fires in the Southern United …
Title Fires in the Southern United States
Description Strong winds and dry weather propelled fast-moving grass fires in northern Texas on March 12, 2006. This image, taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite, outlines active fires in red. Thick plumes of grey and white smoke stream away from the fires. These fires are burning in the northern panhandle of Texas, northeast of the city of Amarillo. The northern part of the fire complex is burning near Borger, Texas, about 10 kilometers east of Lake Meredith (shown in the large image). The southern fire is near Interstate 40, near the town of Jericho. At least seven people have died in fires across the Southern Plains, four in a traffic accident on Interstate 40 when thick smoke suddenly shifted across the road, the Associated Press reported. The National Interagency Fire Center reported 168 fires in the Southern United States early on March 13, and one of the largest was the East Amarillo Complex fire, shown here. The fire had burned 100,000 acres of grassland, and forced the evacuation of multiple towns. The large image provided above has a resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides the image in additional resolutions. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.n,asa.ov ], NASA-GSFC
Thunderstorms in the Midwest …
Title Thunderstorms in the Midwestern United States
Description A slow-moving weather front was responsible for spreading severe storms and flooding across parts of the southeastern and mid-western United States on September 23 and September 24, 2006. The storms occurred when low air pressure over the Central Plains drew warm, humid air up from the Gulf of Mexico. The warm air interacted with strong, upper-level winds. There were numerous reports of tornados, hail, and wind damage on Friday, September 22, across southeastern Missouri and the central Mississippi Valley. On Saturday, September 23, the focus shifted eastward into Tennessee and eastern Kentucky, with the primary threat being damaging winds. Overall, a total of 12 people died as a result of the storms, according to the Associated Press, but most of the fatalities were due to flash flooding [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13894 ] in Kentucky. These images, based on data collected by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (known as TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]), show the flood-producing rains. The top image shows rainfall totals for September 23 and September 24 derived from the TRMM-based, near-real-time, Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, which monitors rainfall over the global tropics. Dark red areas along the Arkansas-Missouri border and stretching into far western Kentucky indicate that rain amounts exceeded 10 inches (about 250 millimeters). Five-inch amounts (130 millimeters, shown in green) stretch from western Oklahoma and up through the Ohio Valley. The lower image shows an instantaneous snapshot of the actual storms as they swept through the Midwest. The image was taken by TRMM at 18:25 UTC (1:15 p.m. CDT) on September 23, 2006, and it shows the distribution of rain intensity as seen from above. A long line of storms (green area) moves southwest to northeast through the central Mississippi Valley. The storms are followed by a broader area of light rain (broad blue area). Areas of intense rainfall (darker reds) associated with heavier thunderstorms are located over northeast Texas, western Kentucky, and eastern Tennessee. Rain rates in the center of the swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar, while those in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager. The rain rates are overlaid on infrared data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).
Thunderstorms in the Midwest …
Title Thunderstorms in the Midwestern United States
Description A slow-moving weather front was responsible for spreading severe storms and flooding across parts of the southeastern and mid-western United States on September 23 and September 24, 2006. The storms occurred when low air pressure over the Central Plains drew warm, humid air up from the Gulf of Mexico. The warm air interacted with strong, upper-level winds. There were numerous reports of tornados, hail, and wind damage on Friday, September 22, across southeastern Missouri and the central Mississippi Valley. On Saturday, September 23, the focus shifted eastward into Tennessee and eastern Kentucky, with the primary threat being damaging winds. Overall, a total of 12 people died as a result of the storms, according to the Associated Press, but most of the fatalities were due to flash flooding [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13894 ] in Kentucky. These images, based on data collected by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (known as TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]), show the flood-producing rains. The top image shows rainfall totals for September 23 and September 24 derived from the TRMM-based, near-real-time, Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, which monitors rainfall over the global tropics. Dark red areas along the Arkansas-Missouri border and stretching into far western Kentucky indicate that rain amounts exceeded 10 inches (about 250 millimeters). Five-inch amounts (130 millimeters, shown in green) stretch from western Oklahoma and up through the Ohio Valley. The lower image shows an instantaneous snapshot of the actual storms as they swept through the Midwest. The image was taken by TRMM at 18:25 UTC (1:15 p.m. CDT) on September 23, 2006, and it shows the distribution of rain intensity as seen from above. A long line of storms (green area) moves southwest to northeast through the central Mississippi Valley. The storms are followed by a broader area of light rain (broad blue area). Areas of intense rainfall (darker reds) associated with heavier thunderstorms are located over northeast Texas, western Kentucky, and eastern Tennessee. Rain rates in the center of the swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar, while those in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager. The rain rates are overlaid on infrared data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).
Fires North of Russia's Lake …
Title Fires North of Russia's Lake Baikal
Description Forest fires were burning across a broad swath of the Central Siberian Plateau on July 24, 2006, 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 the sensor detected actively burning fires are marked in red. A shroud of smoke spreads over thousands of square kilometers of Russia. In the center of the image, the smoke has a brownish tinge. The city of Ust'-Ilimsk, normally visible as a tan spot along the Angara River, is completely hidden by smoke. The scene spans the plateau from Russia's Irkutsk region in the south to the Arctic Ocean in the north. Lake Baikal would be just outside the lower right corner of the scene. This comparison might be helpful in understanding the scale of the event: if the above image covered the United States, the scene would stretch from California to the New Mexico-Texas state line, and it would reach more than a hundred miles both north and south of the borders of the United States. The high-resolution image provided above has a spatial resolution of 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/?2006205-0724/Russia.A2006205.0610 ] at additional resolutions. NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center.
Fires in Southern United Sta …
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
The combination of parched v …
Arkansas_fire.AMO2006008
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2006-01-08
creator NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day
identifier Arkansas_fire.AMO2006008
Fires North of Russia's Lake …
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Forest fires were burning ac …
Russia.AMO2006205
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2006-07-24
creator NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day
identifier Russia.AMO2006205
Thunderstorms in the Midwest …
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
* eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/ima …
USmidwest_TRM_2006266_267
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2006-09-23
creator NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day
identifier USmidwest_TRM_2006266_267
Drought in the Southern Unit …
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …
Rainfall across the United S …
usprecipanom_gpcp_200601
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2006
creator NASA -- Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).
identifier usprecipanom_gpcp_200601
Fires in Southern United Sta …
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Wildfires raced across the g …
USA6.2006003
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2006-01-03
creator NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day
identifier USA6.2006003
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