Lower Atmosphere

Basics

2. Greenhouse light and biosphere

Worksheet 1: Vegetation fires

Vegetation fires can either be be started naturally or by humans.  Natural fires are known as wild fires and these are started by lightning strikes or volcanic eruptions.  Many fires started by humans are the result of carelessness or even arson but most are deliberately started in order to convert forest land into farmland.

The following link shows you all the wildfires around the globe: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?topic=fire

This picture, and the list below, shows where wild fires were burning between July 26th and August 4th, 2003.
All picture please click to enlarge!

1. Nine days of fires worldwide, Summer 2003 (July 26th - August 4th), author: NASA, internet image source: 
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?topic=fire

Fires: Forest Fires in Portugal

In the beginning of August 2003, hot dry conditions in Central Portugal lead to forest fires which burn out of control.
[internet source:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_
hazards_v2.php3?img_id=11135]

Fires: Missouri Breaks Complex Fire
More than 100,000 acres of forest are burnt in Eastern Montana in late July 2003.  The image shows the charred landscape captured by the ASTER satellite on the 2nd August.
[internet source:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural
_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=11137]

Fires: Fires in Western Canada

Wild fires blaze across parts of Canada in the first week of August, 2003.  Ten thousand people are evacuated from their homes to safety.  The Terra MODIS satellite image shows the fires burning in western Canada on August 3rd, 2003.
[internet source:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural
_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=11133]

Fires: Fires in Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay
Hundreds of fires are detected across South America by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite on August 1st 2003.
[internet source:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural
_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=11132]

Fires: Fires in Montana and Alberta
This high-resolution Landsat image from the 28th July 2003, shows fires in and around Glacier National Park, Montana.
[internet source:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural
_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=11134]

Fires: Fires in Siberia
Dozens of fires burn across Siberia on the 4th August, 2003, creating a thick blanket of smoke over the region.
[internet source:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural
_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=11128]

Fires: Fawn Peak Complex Fire in Washington
The Fawn Peak Complex Fire turns in on itself and begins burning previously unburned sections within the fire’s perimeter. This image is from Terra MODIS on the 30th July, 2003.
[internet source:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural
_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=10849]

Fires: Forest Fire in Southern France
In the last week of July, 2003 forest fires sweep through scenic woodlands along the French Riviera.
[internet source:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural
_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=10843]

Fires: Fires in Arizona and New Mexico
On the 26th July 2003, the ASTER satellite captured this high-resolution image of the Aspen Fire burn scar northeast of Tucson, Arizona.
[internet source:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural
_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=10842]

Fires: Fires in Southern Italy
Dozens of fires were detected across southern Italy and Sicily on the 24th July, 2003.
[internet source:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural
_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=10834]

Exercise:
Print out this worksheet and show the location of each of the forest fires mentioned above!

2. image source: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?topic=fire
(modiefied by Julia Heres)

About this page:

Author: Dr. Yvonne Schleicher - University of Nürnberg, Germany
1. scientific reviewing: Dr. Jörg Trentmann, University of Washington, Seattle - 2004-01-27
2. scientific reviewing: Dr. Pascal Guyon, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz - 2004-05-10
educational reviewing: Dr. Helmut Schrettenbrunner and Julia Heres - University of Nürnberg, Germany
last update: 2004-02-17