NASA MODIS Image of the Day: May 15, 2011 – Fires in Mexico and Texas
Dozens of fires were burning across Mexico and Texas on May 12, 2011 when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite flew over the region and captured this true-color image.
In Mexico, most of the fires burn in the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountain Range, especially near the green vegetation on the western slope.
Many of these fires are also accompanied by thick blue-gray smoke plumes. Other fires can be seen scattered throughout the country. On May 9, the Mexican Environment Minister spoke at a news conference and said that nearly 8,000 fires in 30 states had been reported in Mexico this year and that 413,000 hectares had been destroyed, mostly in grasslands. He also said that no wildfire season in the last 30 years had been so difficult, nor has Mexico ever spent so much money to battle fires. There are fewer fires in Texas, but the red hotspots appear much larger, indicating that these fires are burning a wider area. The smoke from these fires is sparse and thin, and drifts to the southeast. The National Interagency Fire Center reported that the largest fire in Texas this spring, the Rock House fire, spanned 314,444 acres. On the day this image was captured, that fire was finally contained. The burn scar can be seen to the northwest of the active fires, and appears as a roughly oval brown-black area.
