1996 Sep 08 20:34 UT

This image was aquired by NOAA 14 at 20:34 UT over the western U.S. This was a daytime pass.
Map of the pass
Channel 2 view of the data White areas are clouds.

This pass shows a number of scars from recent fires. Imaging fire scars is a useful technique for determining the area covered by a fire. Fire scars are best seen in daytime passes like this one.

Oregon

Color composite image using channels 1, 2, and 3. A number of fire scars are visible in this image as darker blue spots. Refer to earlier images showing the hot spots to be more certain of which marks are from recent fires. Note the north/south contrails over the Cascades.

Hell's Canyon Area

Washington is in the upper left in this image and directly below it is Oregon. To the east of these is Idaho. The northeast corner of Oregon is bordered on the east by Hell's Canyon (see the Visitor's Guide in the Wallowa County Chieftain for a nice description of Hell's Canyon). The Hell's Canyon fire scar is the darker blue area along the eastward bulge in the border of Oregon. Other fire scars are visible due east of Hell's Canyon near the eastern Idaho border, and southwest of Hell's Canyon. Due south of the eastern Idaho fire scar, about halfway to the bottom of the image, the location of a recent fire is just visible through scattered clouds.

Wyoming

Color composite image using channels 1, 2, and 3. Several scars of recent fires are seen in this image. Most prominent are the scars southwest of the Bighorn Mountains. The fires that caused these are well shown on the channel 3 views from 1996 Aug 28 and 1996 Aug 27. These scars are seen in more detail on an enlarged view of Bighorn Mountains area (393 Kb) which also shows the fire scar on the northeast side of the mountains. Another area of fire scars is visible north of the Laramie Mountains (southeast of the Bighorns). An earlier channel 3 view from 1996 Sep 5 shows a view of the fire that cause this scar.

Yellowstone Area

Several fire scars may be located by referring to earlier channel 3 views showing the hot spots, such as 1996 Sep 5, and 1996 Sep 3. The most apparent scar is the one near Alpine Montana, northeast of the yellow colored mountain peaks northeast of Yellowstone.

Utah

Color composite image using channels 1, 2, and 3. This view shows a lot of clouds but the fire scar from the recent fire near Promontory UT is visible on the north side of Great Salt Lake.

Great Salt Lake Area

This shows the Promontory fire scar much better. An earlier channel 3 view from shows the fire itself.