Los Angeles: NASA captured images of fire in the Amazon regions of Brazil and Bolivia on Aug. 23, according to a release of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Wednesday.
The red areas captured by NASA's Ecosystem Space borne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (Eco stress) in the images in eastern Bolivia and northern Brazil are where surface temperatures exceeded the maximum measurable temperature of the instrument's sensor, approximately 104 degrees Celsius. It highlighted the burning areas along the fire fronts.
The dark and wispy areas indicate smoke thick enough to obscure much of the fire from view. The measurements cover areas of about 70 by 70 meters each, about the size of a football field, according to the release.
The primary mission of Eco stress is to measure the temperature of plants from the vantage point of the International Space Station (ISS). However, it can also detect other heat-related phenomena like heat waves, volcanoes and fires.
Due to the ISS' unique orbit, Eco stress acquires imagery of the same areas at different times of the day as it passes by overhead. This is particularly important when trying to acquire cloud-free images over perennially cloudy areas like the Amazon, said the release. Eco stress, an Earth Venture Instrument mission, was launched on the ISS on June 29, 2018.
