Contact: Mike Carlowicz
michael.j.carlowicz@nasa.gov
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Earth Image: Fires in Western Australia

Caption: When this image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite at 12:20 pm local time (5:20 Universal Time) on May 2, 2012, dozens of fires, most likely management fires started by government authorities, were burning in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Fire season in this part of Australia usually begins in May and ends in November. Once started, wildfires can be difficult to control. Much of the vegetation is fire prone, and the terrain is hard to access with big machines, such as bulldozers, used to extinguish fires. But since May is only the beginning of the dry season, vegetation is still relatively moist, and fires are relatively easy to contain. Authorities take advantage of this by starting management fires that are designed to remove vegetation that could fuel large wildfires later in the season. More at: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=77846&src=nha

Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

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