Wildfire smoke spotted from space

Smoke seen by satellites

Clouds block much of the fire but smoke is seen in Bunnell and over a fire in South Carolina.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – This is the view from 438 miles above Jacksonville when the Terra satellite passed taking images of the fires burning across the state. 

Terra's orbit around the Earth is timed so that it passes from north to south across the equator in the morning. A second satellite, called Aqua, passes south to north over the equator in the afternoon. Both target the same area but at different times in the morning and the afternoon. 

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Two satellites permits investigation of changes that occur over the course of the day around the fires burning in Bryceville. 

Terra is a NASA satellite carrying five remote sensors. The most comprehensive is MODIS, the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer. It takes measurements all day, every day completing a picture of the globe every two days. 

The satellites are able to detect aerosols from the fires and emitted into the atmosphere from pollution. Those particles influence climate indirectly, by interacting with clouds. 

Scientists can use this data to better understanding of the relationships between clouds, rain, and aerosols.

When water evaporates from the Earth’s surface, it disperses throughout the atmosphere and condenses on aerosols to form clouds. 

Without aerosols, water vapor would continue to disperse until it was distributed evenly throughout the atmosphere, but there would be no clouds and no rain. 

These products provide essential data for modeling and predicting the consequences of global change.