The red dots in the embedded image above are thermal anomalies detected by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard the joint NASA/NOAA NOAA-20 satellite on July 17, 2024, and indicate the approximate location of burning fires and blowing smoke across western and central Canada. Many fires were ignited by lightning strikes in areas stricken by drought.
Smoke from these wildfires is likely to move south into the U.S., particularly over the Northwest and Midwest, according to the Washington Post, joining smoke from fires already burning in Washington and Oregon. Light smoke from Canadian fires is forecast to drift into the Northeastern U.S.
The image on the left (A side) is a true-color corrected reflectance image overlaid with the VIIRS fires and thermal anomalies layer, with detected hotspots shown as red dots. The image on the right (B side) is a false-color corrected reflectance image of the same area also acquired on July 17 that displays burned area in dull red and vegetation in bright green. Swipe the bar back and forth to compare the imagery. Zoom in to areas with large fire clusters to compare thick smoke on the A side with bright red actively burning areas on the B side. Click on the icon in the upper right corner of the map to open a fully interactive map of the fires in Worldview.
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Dataset
VJ114IMGT_NRT doi:10.5067/FIRMS/VIIRS/VJ114IMGT_NRT.002