Envirocast® On-Line Feature of the Week -- May 17, 2007

Wildfire in New Jersey

The images in this Envirocast® Bulletin were taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard NASA's Aqua satellite on May 16, 2007. They show the wildfire and smoke in New Jersey.

Wildfire in New Jersey

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flying onboard NASA’s Aqua satellite took the above images of the wildfire in New Jersey in the afternoon of May 16, 2007, right before the Wednesday night storm system came over. Locations where MODIS detected active fire are outlined in red.

 

Zoom-in View of the Fire and Smoke Plume

The smoke plume was extending about 100 miles to the northeast.

Environmental Impacts:

  • The Warren Grove fire is burning 25 miles north of Atlantic City, NJ.

  • According to the morning report from the National Incident Information Center, as of May 17, the blaze has burned 19,122 acres and has destroyed 3 structures. The fire is 30 percent contained and 275 fire personnel are currently working on putting out the fire.

  • About 6,000 people were initially evacuated from 2,500 homes.  About 500 people remained in shelters overnight on Wednesday, May 16.

  • The fire is believed to have been started by a F-16 fighter jet dropping a flare on a bombing range.

Supplementary Material:

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. It 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.

Envirocast® Bulletin is a service of StormCenter Communications, Inc. If you are having trouble downloading an image or if you have any questions, please call StormCenter Communications at 410-203-1316.

Envirocast® is a registered trademark of StormCenter Communications, Inc. Envirocast® content is copyright StormCenter Communications, Inc. and is intended to be used solely for those StormCenter customers using the Envirocast software or receiving Envirocast via e-mail delivery directly from StormCenter Communications, Inc. If you are not the intended addressee/recipient, you are hereby notified that any use of, disclosure, copying, distribution, or reliance on the contents of this E-Mail information is strictly prohibited.