ASTER Image of Simi Valley Area:

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Zoom into Fillmore Area (ASTER image):

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Environmental Impacts:

• The image, captured by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), on November 2, 2003, shows Simi Valley regions of California northwest of the city of Los Angeles.

• In the images, unburned vegetation appears red, while burned areas appear charcoal-brown. Urban areas appear light gray, and some irrigated fields (as seen in Fillmore area Zoom-in Images) appear brilliant red. 

• The Southern California wildfires in late October 2003 destroyed more than 3,600 homes and killed 24 people. California's last catastrophic wildfire, in 1991 in the Oakland Hills, destroyed 3,175 homes and apartments.

Supplementary Material:

NASA's MODIS sensor:

• MODIS (or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) is a key instrument aboard the Terra (EOS AM) and Aqua (EOS PM) satellites.

• Terra MODIS and Aqua MODIS are viewing the entire Earth's surface every 1 to 2 days, acquiring data in 36 spectral bands, or groups of wavelengths. These data will improve our understanding of global dynamics and processes occurring on the land, in the oceans, and in the lower atmosphere.

• MODIS is playing a vital role in the development of validated, global, interactive Earth system models able to predict global change accurately enough to assist policy makers in making sound decisions concerning the protection of our environment.

• There is a 6-minute QuickTime Movie describing MODIS and its mission:

hi-resolution version (34 MB), faster-downloading version (3.5 MB)

NASA's ASTER Sensor:

• ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) is an imaging instrument that is flying on Terra.

• ASTER is a cooperative effort between NASA and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Earth Remote Sensing Data Analysis Center (ERSDAC). ASTER will be used to obtain detailed maps of land surface temperature, emissivity, reflectance and elevation.

• ASTER consists of three different subsystems; the Visible and Near Infrared (VNIR), the Shortwave Infrared (SWIR), and the Thermal Infrared (TIR).

NASA's TERRA Satellite:

• The Terra spacecraft (formally known as EOS-AM) was successfully launched on Saturday, December 19, 1999 at the Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in Lompoc, California. It is flying at an altitude of 705 km (438 miles) observing the Earth. The life expectancy of the Terra mission is 6 years. It will be followed in later years by other EOS spacecraft that take advantage of new developments in remote sensing technologies. [Terra 3D Animation], [Animation showing Terra Orbit]

• Terra's orbit around the Earth is timed so that it passes from north to south across the equator in the morning, and thus it passes over us at the same local time every day, approximately 10:30-10:45 a.m.

NASA's Terra Satellite

NASA's AQUA Satellite:

• Aqua, Latin for water, is a NASA Earth Science satellite mission collecting about the Earth's water cycle, including evaporation from the oceans, water vapor in the atmosphere, clouds, precipitation, soil moisture, sea ice, land ice, and snow cover on the land and ice. The Aqua spacecraft (formally known as EOS-PM) was successfully launched on May 4, 2002 at the Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in Lompoc, California. t is flying at an altitude of 705 km (438 miles) observing the Earth, and the life expectancy is 6 years. [Aqua's Orbit], [Animation of MODIS Observing the Earth]

• Aqua passes south to north over the equator in the afternoon, and thus it passes over us at the same local time every day, approximately 1:30 p.m.

NASA's Aqua Satellite