Fires in Arizona and New Mexico - related image preview

650 x 850
114 KB - JPEG

Fires in Arizona and New Mexico - related image preview

1300 x 1700
399 KB - JPEG

Fires in Arizona and New Mexico - related image preview

2600 x 3400
1 MB - JPEG

Fires in Arizona and New Mexico

Twenty miles north of Tucson, Arizona, the Aspen Fire raged through the Coronado National Forest in June and July 2003. The fire began on June 17, 2003, and over the next few weeks grew to more than 40,000 acres. Hundreds of homes and businesses in communities on Mount Lemmon were burned, and hundreds of people have been evacuated from the area as fire fighters struggle to contain the blaze in difficult terrain under hot, dry, windy conditions.

In these Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images from the Terra (top) and Aqua (bottom) satellites between mid-June and July 2003, several fires have been detected across the Southwest and are marked with red dots. The Aspen Fire, south or southwest of center in most images, has the largest smoke plume of all the fires. The grayish patch to the southwest of that fire is the city of Tucson.


Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Published June 26, 2003
Data acquired June 26 - 26, 2003

Source:
Terra > MODIS
Topic:
Human Dimensions > Natural Hazards > Fires
Collections:
MODIS Rapid Response
Visible Earth