The Yarrabin fire broke out in the Kybeyan Range on January 6, 2013, burning about 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Nimmatabel. By January 15, firefighters had contained the blaze, but it had charred more than 10,500 hectares (25,900 acres) of land near Wadbilliga National Forest.
The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite acquired this image of the affected area on January 15, 2013. Burned vegetation appears red in the false-color image; unburned areas are dark green. Grassland and agricultural land is light green and tan.
The fire was one of many that burned across Australia when a record-breaking heat wave struck the country in January. The heat wave, like all extreme weather events, had its direct cause in a complex set of atmospheric conditions that produce short-term weather. However, weather occurs within the broader context of the climate, and there’s a high level of agreement among scientists that global warming has made it more likely that heat waves of this magnitude will occur.
Further Reading
- Daily Mail (2013, January 15) Wall of flame ‘like an atom bomb’ erupts in Australia as heatwave brings more deadly bushfires sweeping across the country. Accessed January 16, 2013.
References & Resources
- Cooma Express (2013, January 13) Yarrabin fire moving away from Cooma: RFS. Accessed January 16, 2013.
- New South Wales Rural Fire Service (n.d.) Current Fires and Incidents. Accessed January 16, 2013.
- Sky News (2013, January 12) Cool change downgrades Yarrabin blaze. Accessed January 16, 2013.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using EO-1 ALI data provided courtesy of the NASA EO-1 team. Caption by Adam Voiland.
