Several large fires burning near Alice Springs, Australia, blanketed roads and railroads with smoke and interfered with travel on September 29, 2011. In this image, taken in the early afternoon of September 29 by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite, a thick cloud of smoke covers hundreds of kilometers south and north of Alice Springs. The fires are outlined in red.
Several large fires have burned throughout northern and central Australia during September. In the large image, which includes a much wider area, smoke hangs over most of Australia’s vast Northern Territory. Fire has been so widespread this year, reports the Sydney Morning Herald, because normally sparse grasses currently cover much of the country after a rainy year. The dry winter season allowed the grass to dry enough that any small spark can set off a large fire. Grass fires are dangerous because they move quickly and can change direction without warning.
References & Resources
- ABC News. (2011, September 29). Cooler weather brings hope to weary firefighters. Accessed September 29, 2011.
- Neil, M. (2011, September 29). Drought, rain, and now grass fire risk. Sydney Morning Herald. Accessed September 29, 2011.
- Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services. (2011, September 29). Update #5 – Fires – Alice Springs. Accessed September 29, 2011.
NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Holli Riebeek.
