The Honey Prairie Complex Fire in Georgia continued sending smoke eastward over the Atlantic Ocean on June 20, 2011. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite took this picture the same day.
Red outlines indicate actively burning fires. Although the Honey Prairie Complex Fire produces most of the smoke, other fires also burn around the Georgia-Florida border. On June 22, the U.S. Air Quality “Smog Blog” reported that smoke from fires in Georgia and Florida was blowing northward, adding to the smoke already hovering over North Carolina.
According to the Incident Information System (InciWeb) on June 22, 2011, the Honey Prairie Complex Fire had burned 266,320 acres (107,776 hectares) and was 60 percent contained.
The bright area at the bottom center of this image results not from smoke but from sunglint—sunlight reflecting off the ocean surface and into the satellite sensor.
References & Resources
- InciWeb. (2011, June 22). Honey Prairie Complex. Accessed June 22, 2011.
- U.S. Air Quality. (2011, June 22). Fires continue to burn in Georgia, smoke heads towards already smoky North Carolina. Accessed June 22, 2011.
- U.S. Forest Service. (2011, June 22). Active Fire Mapping Program. Accessed June 22, 2011.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Michon Scott.
