January 25, 2020 - Fires and Burn Scars in Australia

For much of the 2019-2020 austral summer, plumes of bushfire smoke have billowed from southeastern Australia in such large amounts that the ground was barely visible in satellite images. In mid-January, some of those plumes were finally quelled by a few days of much-needed rainfall.

According to news reports, the largest accumulations in New South Wales occurred north of Sydney, where rainfall averaged between 20 and 30 centimeters (8 and 12 inches). In Victoria, areas near Melbourne received a month’s worth of rain in a single day. The weather system was spotty, however, and some areas along the southeast coast saw less than a centimeter of precipitation. The rain helped reduce the number of fires, but according to the New South Wales Fire Service on January 24 there were 62 fires continuing to burn in that state. That’s down from 88 fires on January 15.

As the smoke begins to diminish, satellites can see the massive burn scars left behind by some of the infernos. On January 24, 2020, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a stunning false-color image of south eastern Australia. The false-color image, using bands 7,2,1, shows vegetation as electric green, smoke as electric blue, water deep blue, and open land as tan. Areas burned by fire are not characterized by deposits of charcoal and ash and the vegetation is either removed or altered. The color of the scar reflects the unique damage left by the fire, so the color ranges from a charred black color to brick red.

In this image, most of the active fires and smoke continue in New South Wales, while large fire scars are visible primarily in Victoria. The longest scar, along the coast, has an estimated measurement of 105.2 miles (169 km). That’s roughly the straight-line distance between New York City and Wilmington, Delaware.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 1/24/2020
Resolutions: 1km (418.9 KB), 500m (973.3 KB), 250m (672.4 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC