A fast-moving wildfire burning near Fort McMurray, Alberta has prompted the evacuation of all 88,000 residents of the city. Since the fire started Sunday, at least 1,600 structures have been destroyed.
NASA’s Earth Observatory trained one of its satellites on the area – see below. Read more about the blaze here.
Wildfire Spreads in Fort McMurray
On May 4, 2016, the the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) on the Landsat 7 satellite acquired this false-color image of the wildfire that burned through Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada. The image combines shortwave infrared, near infrared, and green light (bands 5-4-2). Near- and short-wave infrared help penetrate clouds and smoke to reveal the hot spots associated with active fires, which appear red. Smoke appears white and burned areas appear brown.
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