Fires in North Carolina and Virginia
Fires in North Carolina and Virginia
18 June 2008
The Evans Road Fire had burned over 41,000 acres of the Pocosin National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina as of Sunday, 15 June 2008, while the South 1 Fire in the Great Dismal Swamp, at the border of North Carolina and Virginia, had burned about 1,500 acres.
This natural-color image of Virginia and North Carolina was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Aqua satellite on Monday, 16 June 2008. Places where the sensor detected actively burning fires are outlined in red.
TERRA
16 June 2008
(source: earth observatory)
The high-resolution image provided above is at MODIS maximum spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel.
The Evans Road Fire was started by lightning on 2 June, while the South 1 Fire appears to have been sparked by machines removing trees downed by Hurricane Isabel. Both fires have the potential to generate lots of smoke because swamps have thick layers of peatpartially decayed vegetation that accumulates in soggy environments. When peat does dry out, it can fuel stubborn fires that smolder for months.
References
- Forster, D., and Saewitz, M. (2008, June 12). Fire sets back tree revival project in Great Dismal Swamp. The Virginian-Pilot. Accessed June 16, 2008.
