Several lightning-caused fires are burning in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains in early autumn, and are pictured here in this true-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image from September 27, 2003. For the most part these fires are being allowed to burn in an effort to promote the long-term health of the forests by allowing fire to take its place in the natural cycle of the region’s forests. Several fires are burning in the central Sierra Nevada Mountains, near Yosemite. According to local news reports, the fires in the park were originally being permitted to burn within a specified acreage, but over the weekend they grew larger than park managers were comfortable with, and additional firefighters were called in to battle the blazes.
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Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
