May 23, 2022 - Burn Scar in New Mexico

Burn Scar in New Mexico
Tweet
Share

A fierce fire season has been scorching parts of the Southwestern
United States since April 2022 and leaving behind large scars on the
landscape. On May 19, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a
false-color image of burn scars left by three fires in northern New
Mexico, including the largest fire ever recorded in that state.

This type of false-color image uses visible and near-infrared light
(bands 7,2,1) to highlight areas where fire has destroyed vegetation
and charred land. Burn scars can appear black, brown, or brick red in
this type of image while vegetation appears bright green, open land
looks tan tan, deep water is colored deep blue, and clouds may appear
either white or tinted with electric blue. The color variation in burn
scars depends on type of vegetation burned, the completeness of the
burn, the amount of residue remaining after the burn, and the age of
the burn. Light orange indicates actively burning areas.

The largest burn scar marks the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak fire, which
has become the largest fire in New Mexico’s history. It began as two
separate fires. The Calf Canyon fire ignited on April 19, and the cause
is under investigation. On April 6, the Hermits Peak fire began as a
prescribed burn in part of the Sant Fe National Forest, but erratic,
gusty winds blew it out of control. Strong winds on April 22-23 pushed
the fire through steep terrain and caused a merger with the Calf Canyon
fire, creating a fire complex. On May 2, the fire complex had scorched
120,653 acres. Five days later, with reports of the flames spreading as
fast as 50 miles per hour, the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak fire become the
second-largest fire in New Mexico’s history, stretching over 170,665
acres. Soon the rapidly-spreading fire surpassed the Whitewater-Baldy
complex Fire—a massive inferno that destroyed 297,845 acres in the Gila
National Forest in 2012—to capture the record as the largest fire. As
of May 22, the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak fire has burned 310,253 acres
and was only 40 percent contained. This is more than double the size of
Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest city. Over the last two days the
temperatures have decreased and humidity increased, giving some slight
assistance to firefighting on this blaze, but it is still extremely
active.

The other burn scars are the Cerro Pelado Fire, to the west of Calf
Canyon/Hermits Peak fire and the Cooks Peak Fire, to the northeast. The
Cerro Pelado Fire was first reported on April 22 in timber and brush in
the Santa Fe National Forest. On May 22, this fire had burned 45,605
acres and the 594 personnel working the fire had helped bring it to 85
percent containment. The Cooks Peak Fire ignited on April 17 from human
activity and the cause is under investigation. It burned 59,379 acres
and was fully contained on May 13.

While this single image shows dramatic burn scars from truly massive
fires, to understand the expansion over time it is helpful to compare
two images acquired on two different days. Thanks to the NASA Worldview
App, a roll-over comparison of MODIS false-color images of northern New
Mexico acquired on May 3, 2022, and this one, acquired on May 19 can be
found here.

NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS)
Worldview application provides the capability to interactively browse
over 700 global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers and then
download the underlying data. Many of the available imagery layers are
updated within three hours of observation, essentially showing the
entire Earth as it looks "right now".

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 5/19/2022
Resolutions: 1km (141.4 KB), 500m (310.5 KB), 250m (151.6
KB)
Bands Used: 7,2,1
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-05-23

--- up 12 weeks, 20 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)