• MODIS Pic of the Day 28 May 2022

    From Dan Richter@1:317/3 to All on Saturday, May 28, 2022 12:00:12
    May 28, 2022 - Blazes Continue to Scorch New Mexico

    New Mexico
    Tweet
    Share

    Fueled by high temperatures, low humidity, gusting winds, and a
    lingering two-decade megadrought, multiple large fires have more than a
    half-million acres in New Mexico as of May 27, 2022. A "Fuels and Fire
    Behavior Advisory" released by the National Interagency Fire Center on
    May 18 summed up the cause of the disastrous fire season this way,
    “expanding drought conditions coupled with very hot and dry weather,
    extreme wind events, and unstable atmospheric conditions have led to
    explosive fire behavior in the region.” In parts of Arizona and New
    Mexico, “conditions like this have not been seen since the mid-1950s.”
    The situation has not improved since that advisory. On May 19, the U.S.
    Drought Monitor reported that at least 85 percent of New Mexico was
    experiencing extreme to exceptional drought—and on May 26, an updated
    report stated that New Mexico received little or no precipitation in
    the last week.

    On May 26, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on
    board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of two fires
    burning in southwestern New Mexico. Each red “hot spot” marks an area
    where the thermal bands on the MODIS instrument detected high
    temperatures. In this case, the hot spots are caused by actively
    burning fire.

    A large blacked area (burn scar) can be seen in the lower section of
    the image, and two lines of active fire flank the burn scar. This is
    the Black Fire, which ignited on May 13 in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness
    Area about 30 miles northwest of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. On
    May 16, the fire “blew up” – a term indicating a sudden increase in
    fire intensity or rate of spread—to triple in size. The Black Fire’s
    blow-up increased the size from 18,000 acres to more than 56,000 acres
    as it crossed the Continental Divide.

    On May 22, the Black Fire became the second-largest fire burning in New
    Mexico, covering 130,000 acres. By May 27, the acreage burnt increased
    to 191,459 and, according to a report on InciWeb Incident Information
    System, the fire was averaging an increase of 15,000 acres a day.
    Increasingly hot, dry, and breezy winds out of the west-southwest are
    expected to increase torching, spotting, and fire activity over the
    next few days, despite firefighters working day and night to suppress
    the extremely active fire. The National Interagency Fire Center notes
    that 51 structures are at risk, with 2 structures destroyed. The Black
    Fire was only 13 percent contained as of May 27.

    A smaller fire, the Bear Trap Fire, burns to the northeast of the Black
    Fire. This fire started on May 1, in timber located about 22 miles
    southwest of Magdalena, New Mexico. As of May 27, the fire scorched
    38,091 Acres and was 41 percent contained. The cause of the fire is
    under investigation.

    Image Facts
    Satellite: Aqua
    Date Acquired: 5/26/2022
    Resolutions: 1km (32.6 KB), 500m (114.2 KB), 250m (381.1
    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=2022-05-28

    --- up 12 weeks, 5 days, 20 minutes
    * Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)