Fires in southern California and Baja California

On the afternoon of November 18, 2005, a fire started in a remote area in the mountains surrounding Ventura, California. Fueled by gusty Santa Ana winds (dry winds that blow seaward from interior deserts), the blaze grew rapidly, churning smoke out over the Santa Barbara Channel. This image was captured on November 18 by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite. The actively burning part of the fire that MODIS detected is outlined in red. There were also several large fires burning in northern Mexico.

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Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Published November 21, 2005
Data acquired November 18, 2005

Source:

Aqua > MODIS

Collection:

Visible Earth