November 20, 2019 - Fires in Australia

Australia’s vicious fire season continued through late November 2019, with the government warning of “catastrophic fire danger” extended to Western Australia and South Australia, even as many dozens of fires rage largely unabated across Queensland and New South Wales.

According to local media, the skies over Sydney, New South Wales, were covered in thick smoke on the morning of November 20 local time, thanks to more than 50 bushfires burning along the coast of that state, about 28 of which were classified as uncontained. Most of the offending smoke rose from Gosper’s mountain, to the northwest of the city. Severe fire risk continues in New South Wales, with weather forecast to be both dry and hot. Temperatures are expected to rise to about 104°F (40°C) over the next few days.

Meanwhile, more than 100 schools were reported to have closed on Tuesday in South Australia due to extreme fire conditions, where temperatures are expected to hit record highs. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology forecast 45°C (113°C) at Murray Bridge, with similar temperatures in several parts of South Australia.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of fire and smoke along the coast of New South Wales on November 19. Each red “hot spot” marks an area where the thermal bands on the instrument detected areas of high temperature. When accompanied by smoke, as in this image, such hot spots are diagnostic for actively burning fire. The fires cover much of the green (vegetated) area along the coast of New South Wales.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 11/19/2019
Resolutions: 1km (306.4 KB), 500m (1.1 MB), 250m (3.4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC