Friday, January 05, 2007

Satellite Tracking of Wildfires

SpaceRef
"Jan. 4, 2007 — The 2006 wildfire season in the United States set an all-time record with more than 9.8 million acres burned in more than 96,000 wildfires. NOAA satellites were key in detecting and monitoring the movement of the blazes, providing invaluable information to firefighters on the ground.
Throughout the season, NOAA's two geostationary satellites and two polar-orbiting spacecraft provided more than 200 images each day. The most hectic stretch of last year's season came between July and September, when NOAA satellites detected 98,848 hot spots."