Smoke Over Southeastern Australia
January 04, 2002
Provided by: NASA/GSFC, ORBIMAGE, SeaWiFS Project
Summary authors & editors: Jim Foster
This unique, oblique view from the SeaWiFS satellite shows smoke from wildfires enveloping southeastern Australia. These fires, which have been burning for the past 2 weeks, aren't just confined to some place in the Outback, but rather they've been threatening urban areas such as Australia's largest city, Sydney. Some fires are less than 10 miles from Sydney's downtown area. A pall of smoke and ash hang over the city, and some of its famous beaches are black with soot. Strong winds, with gusts over 40 miles per hour, been driving the fires. Since Christmas, more than 100 fires have destroyed at least 150 homes and burned nearly 3/4 million acres of range land in New South Wales.
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