Image Acquired 
January 21, 2003 

Satellite & Sensor 
Aqua- MODIS 

Smoke billows out over the Pacific Ocean from raging bushfires in southeast Australia. This image of the fires (red dots) was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite on January 21, 2003, around 3:00 p.m. local time. 

Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC 

Image Acquired 
January 22, 2003 

Satellite & Sensor 
Terra- MODIS 

Bushfires Raging in Southeast Australia 
Bushfires in southeast Australia are still burning out of control, threatening farmland, livestock, and homes in Victoria and New South Wales, Australia. More than 500 homes have been destroyed, and several towns have fires within one or two kilometers of the city limits. Erratic winds push the fires, some of which have been burning for weeks, one way and then another, frustrating and exhausting the hundreds of firefighters battling the blazes. This Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image of the fires (red dots) was acquired January 22, 2003, around 11:30 a.m. local time 

Image Acquired 
January 20, 2003 

Satellite & Sensor 
Terra- MODIS 

Bushfires Raging in Southeast Australia 
Fire danger in southeast New South Wales lessened somewhat between Tuesday, Jan. 21, and Wednesday, Jan. 22 (local time) due to changing winds, while just across the territory boundary, the danger in Victoria (south) increased. Residents were being warned that if they weren't prepared to fight the fires, they had better begin to evacuate their homes, as bushfires push through farm and grazing land on the outskirts of several towns and toward communities in northeastern Victoria. 

This true-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image is from the Terra satellite on January 21, 2003, (local time) around 11:00 a.m.  The widespread nature of the smoke indicates how strong and variable the winds are. Active fire is marked with a red dot. 

Image Acquired 
January 12, 2003 

Satellite & Sensor 
TOMS 

Bushfires Raging in Southeast Australia 
Large fires burning out of control in the Great Dividing Range Mountains in southeast Australia are producing a thick cloud of aerosols over the area. This false-color map of Australia shows an aerosol index produced from data collected by the Total ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) on January 12, 2003. The index shows how much light was absorbed by aerosols in a column of air between the instrument and the ground. A value of 1 indicates aerosols were reducing the light reaching the ground by about one-thrid, while a value of 3 indicates aerosol so dense that the light was reduced by about 95 percent. 

The large cluster of fires in southern New South Wales is easily identified by the large area of red. The aerosol plume clearly affects a larger area than it seems to in true-color imagery. This is because the TOMS aerosol index uses observations collected in the ultraviolet (UV) part of the spectrum. Aerosols that appear transparent in true-color imagery can be revealed by UV analysis. The principle is similar to certain "invisible" magic markers that produce writing that can only be seen under special UV ("black") lights. 

Image courtesy Dr. Jay Herman and the TOMS Ocean/UV Research Group, NASA-GSFC 

Image Acquired 
January 19, 2003 

Satellite & Sensor 
Terra- MODIS 

Bushfires Raging in Southeast Australia 
On January 19, 2003, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors on the Aqua and Terra satellites captured a series of images of the fires in southeast Australia and the plume of smoke wafting thousands of kilometers out over the Pacific Ocean. This composite image is made up of four alternating Terra and Aqua images: Terra/Aqua/Terra/Aqua (left to right). 

Terra is the morning satellite, so its images were acquired first. Since the satellites collect data from  east to west, Terra acquired the third segment of the image, showing South Island of New Zealand first, and then a few hours later, the first segment, showing the coast of Australia. The Aqua images came next, again from east to west, so that the far right segment, showing North Island of New Zealand, came first, and the second segment, showing the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Australia, came last. 

Over the ocean, you can see the direction of the sunglint change based on the different orbital geometry: in the Terra image, the sunglint runs northeast-southwest, for Aqua it runs northwest-southeast. 

Bushfires Raging in Southeast Australia 
Bushfires in southeast Australia are still burning out of control, threatening farmland, livestock, and homes in Victoria and New South Wales, Australia. More than 500 homes have been destroyed, and several towns have fires within one or two kilometers of the city limits. Erratic winds push the fires, some of which have been burning for weeks, one way and then another, frustrating and exhausting the hundreds of firefighters battling the blazes. This Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image of the fires (red dots) was acquired January 22, 2003, around 11:30 a.m. local time 

Bushfires Raging in Southeast Australia 
A change in the wind direction has shifted the smoke billowing from bushfires in southeast Australia from east to west. This true-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image from the Aqua satellite on January 23, 2003, shows the fires (red dots) burning near the New South Wales-Victoria border. The change in wind direction has allowed fire fighters to employ a technique called back burning, protecting several towns in the region. 

When the wind is pushing a fire in one direction, it can be dangerous for firefighters to get too close to the advancing fire in an attempt to create a control line, for example, by  digging a fire break. But when the wind changes direction, often pushing the fire back the way it came, firefighters can establish a control line in relative safety aware from the fire front, and then intentionally burn the vegetation between the control line and fire. The intentional burn will then "chase" the main fire, clearing the vegetation and creating a zone of relative safety for the firefighters for when the winds resume their previous course.