Fire is part of the natural landscape around the world. It plays a role in ecosystems by clearing old vegetation, releasing soil nutrients, and making way for new growth. Increasingly, human activity is changing the frequency, intensity and patterns of fire around the world.
This video shows satellite observations of fires around the world from 2000 and tracks the development of a series of devastating fires that struck southern California in autumn 2003. These fires were exacerbated by human activity and long-term drought.
Global fire data, provided by the University of Maryland and NASA, were gathered by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard both Terra and Aqua satellites. Landscape data were drawn from Thematic Mapper aboard Landsat 5 and the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus aboard Landsat 7.
Data Sources:
- MODIS Rapid Response System Global Fire Maps
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/firemaps/
- Web Fire Mapper
http://maps.geog.umd.edu/