Burn scars from California wildfires visible from space, satellite images show

Burn scars left by raging wildfires that blackened more than 1.6 million acres in California are so devastating they can be seen from space, satellite images show.

NASA and the National Weather Service have released images showing the destruction left by the blazes, many of which were sparked by lightning.

During disasters, NASA uses a variety of satellites to track active fires and smoke plumes, according to a release from the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

“Likewise, in the aftermath of the fires, our researchers will use orbital and aerial data of the burn areas to help mitigate hazards such as landslides and mudslides,” David Green, manager of the Disasters Program at NASA Headquarters, said in the release.

A false-color map posted to Twitter on Tuesday by NASA shows the scars left by blazes in Monterey County, taken by the Terra satellite using thermal imaging. Vegetation is shown in red, with burn areas in dark blue and gray.

On Saturday, the National Weather Service also posted a satellite image of Northern California to Twitter showing the huge burn scars left by recent wildfires.

The image, also shot by NASA’s Terra satellite, was produced by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS, aboard the satellite.

Along with burning hundreds of thousands of acres, more than 7,100 wildfires killed seven people and destroyed 3,631 structures in August in California, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Thousands more were forced to evacuate by the blazes, which blanketed most of the West in thick smoke that stretched all the way to Kansas.

This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 12:52 PM with the headline "Burn scars from California wildfires visible from space, satellite images show."