• MODIS Pic of the Day 27 April 2022

    From Dan Richter@1:317/3 to All on Wednesday, April 27, 2022 12:01:04
    April 27, 2022 - Wildfires in New Mexico

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    The 2022 New Mexico fire season roared to an early and destructive
    start, thanks to extremely low humidity, an exceptionally dry
    landscape, and strong, gusty winds. As of April 19, nearly 99 percent
    of the state was dealing with some level of drought, according to the
    U.S. Drought Monitor, with 63 percent rated at extreme to exceptional
    levels of dryness. Amid those conditions, the Inciweb Incident
    Information System reported 11 fires burning across New Mexico on April
    26.

    The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board
    NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of the area near the
    city of Santa Fe on April 26. Each red “hot spot” marks an area where
    the thermal bands on the instrument detected high temperatures. When
    combined with typical smoke, such hot spots are diagnostic for actively
    burning fire.

    This image captures four individually-named fires, and each fire
    contains numerous hot spots. This is a typical pattern seen in large
    fires, especially when fires are spreading from the center outward.
    Areas already burned don’t necessarily show as hot spots, but the
    leading edges will. As a fire grows, it expands from the center,
    creating several actively-burning areas while other areas within the
    fire radius may not yet have burned. This image also shows heavy smoke
    rising from most of the fires, as well as a long band of smoke
    stretching across New Mexico from west to east. This lower band of
    smoke, which is south of the fires in this image, likely originates
    from fires in southern and southwestern New Mexico and in Arizona.

    To the west of Santa Fe, the Cerro Pelado fire burns in timber and
    brush in the Santa Fe National Forest. First reported on April 22, it
    has burned 5,485 acres. According to Inciweb, 281 personnel are working
    this fire, which is 0 percent contained. Estimated containment date is
    May 5.

    To the east of Santa Fe, a cluster of red hot spots mark both the
    Hermit’s Peak fire and the Calf Canyon fire. The Calf Canyon fire began
    on April 19, and the cause is under investigation. The Hermits Peak
    ignited on April 6, and initially was a prescribed burn in part of the
    Sant Fe National Forest, but erratic, gusty winds blew it out of
    control. Strong winds on April 22-23 pushed the fire through steep
    terrain and caused a merger with the Calf Canyon fire, creating a fire
    complex with more than 180 miles of perimeter. Residents in parts of
    San Miguel, Mora, and Colfax counties were told to evacuate their
    homes. As of April 26, the complex fire had consumed 60,173 acres and
    was 12 percent contained. With 817 personnel currently working the
    blaze, the estimated containment date is July 31.

    To the northeast, the Cooks Peak fire burned through 54,021 acres and
    was 18 percent contained as of the morning of April 26. It began on
    April 17, and the cause is under investigation.

    Further east, the Mitchell Fire is burning in pinon-juniper and
    grassland. It began on April 22 off of New Mexico Highway 39 near David
    Hill and has burned 25,000 acres. As of April 26, the fire was reported
    as 60 percent contained.

    According to the National Interagency Fire Center on April 25, fourteen
    large, active fires were burning across 244,000 acres in eleven states.
    Since the start of 2022, at least 20,262 wildfires have burned 865,290
    acres in the United States, well above the 10–year average through
    April.

    In research published in November 2021, scientists found that burned
    acreage from wildfires in the western United States doubled between the
    period of 1984–2000 and 2001–2018. They attributed the increase in fire
    to a significant change in the vapor pressure deficit, a measurement of
    how hot and dry the atmosphere can get. Global warming, they noted, has
    been intensifying vapor pressure deficits, making vegetation more
    susceptible to burning and the atmosphere more conducive to sustaining
    fire. Other researchers also found that wildfires have been spreading
    to higher elevations in the U.S. West in recent decades.

    Image Facts
    Satellite: Aqua
    Date Acquired: 4/23/2022
    Resolutions: 1km (102.3 KB), 500m (214.1 KB), 250m (706.9
    KB)
    Bands Used: 1,4,3
    Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



    https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-04-27

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