Fires in Spain and Portugal
Fires in Spain and Portugal
15August 2006
In northwestern Spain and Portugal, numerous fires raced across dry forestland at the beginning of the third week of August 2006. When the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Aqua satellite passed over head on 13 August, the sensor detected more than a dozen active fires (outlined in red) on the Atlantic Coast of the Iberian Peninsula.
AQUA
13 August 2006 
The photo-like image on the left is paired with a shortwave- and near-infrared-enhanced image on the right. In the false-color image, burned areas stand out as deep red marks compared to the bright green of unburnedvegetation. Areas of sparse vegetation, such as cities or arid locations, appear in shades of pinkish-tan togray. Within some of the fire perimeter outlines, a bright pink glow is visible. This bright glow often indicates open flame at the time of the satelliteoverpass.
The high-resolution images provided above have a spatial resolution of 250 meters perpixel.
(source: EarthObservatory)
See also following articles
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Mejora la situación de los incendios en Galicia (published by www.infobae.com, 15 August 2006)
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Improvement in Galicia forest fire situation (published by www.typicallyspanish.com, 14 August 2006)
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Un muerto por incendio forestal (published by www.emol.com, 14 August 2006)
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Reflexiones políticas sobre los incendios forestales gallegos (published by www.elsemanaldigital.com, 14 August 2006)
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Forest fires set deliberately: Spanish officials (published by www.thepeninsulaqatar.com, 14 August 2006)
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La responsabilidad de los incendios forestales (published by www.elpais.es, 13 August 2006)
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Disminuyen incendios forestales en Galicia, España (published by www.spanish.xinhuanet.com, 13 August 2006)
See also:
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Heatwave in Western Europe (source: Earth Observatory)
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI):
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Aqua satellite also enhanced the image from 13 August 2006 by including the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) which is strongly correlated to surface temperatures and surface moisture status.
ECPC Fire Weather Forecast:
The GFMC displays selected and daily updated Experimental Climate Prediction Center (ECPC) Fire Weather Forecasts for Europe. These examples allow a quicklook and provide daily and weekly total forecasts. For background information refer to the ECPC products description page.
FWI forecast for the next 60 hrs
FWI forecast for the next week
Surface temperatures forecast for the next week
Precipitation amount forecast for the next week
Relative humidity forecast for the next week
Windspeed forecast for the next week
(Source: ECPC Fire Weather Index Forecast)
The forecast indicates no extreme fire danger for Galicia. The current fire danger, however, is due to unusually high day temperatures, low precipitation and low relative humidity
Formore details on fires in Spain:
- Statistical database for Spain
