Forest Fires in Central America, 27 April 2000
Forest Fires in Central America
27 April 2000
The GOES and NOAA/AVHRR satellite images of 25 and 26 April 2000 reflect the overall fire situation in Central America as it was highlighted in the GFMC reports during the last days (starting with the Honduras fire report on 31 March 2000). Heat signatures can be seen from fires burning in several countries of Central America. Other fires may be obsured by the cloud cover.
Fig.1. NESDIS/OSEI NOAA-14 AVHRR satellite images of Central America, 25 April 2000. Heat signatures (red) and large amount of smoke are visible from numerous large fires burning in Guatemala and the lower part of the Yucatan Peninsula. The wind patterns have noticeably shifted from a southeasterly direction to a northeasterly direction causing the smoke to cover most of Guatemala and adjacent areas in Mexico. A “smoke front” is quite visible along the northern edge of the fires in Guatemala with the wind shift.
(Source: NOAA/OSEI).
Fig.2. NESDIS/OSEI NOAA-14 AVHRR satellite images of Central America, 25 April 2000. Heat signatures (red) and large amount of smoke are visible from numerous large fires burning in Guatemala. Numerous heat signatures are visible in Honduras and Nicaragua. A shift in the wind to the northeast has driven the smoke over the coastal Pacific Ocean.
(Source: NOAA/OSEI).
Fig.3. NESDIS/OSEI GOES-8 satellite image of Central America, 26 April 2000. Large amounts of dense smoke stream westward over the Pacific Ocean and northward over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico from large fires burning in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
(Source: NOAA/OSEI).
