Fire seen from on high

Even from space, wildfires raging near Show Low, Ariz., are standout features of the landscape as seen in images from NASA’s Earth Observing System Terra satellite.

The satellite’s Web page will be updated with new images as they are received.

The reddish blot is the burn scar, the devastation caused by the fire that has burned nearly 350,000 acres of Arizona forest so far. Active fires can be seen as hotspots on the margins of the burn scar.

Satellite images were taken starting June 23 by an instrument aboard Terra called the MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS and with a resolution of 500 meters. It was provided by the Space Science and Engineering Center at UW–Madison. Scott Bachmeier enhanced and analyzed the images.