Tripod Fire Satellite View

This satellite image shows the Tripod Complex Fire, which burned some 180,000 acres of beetle-damaged forest in central Washington's Okanogan-Wenatchee forest in 2006. Large fires such as this are projected to increase in the future in the American West, due to the effects of climate change.

This satellite image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite on August 7, 2006. Locations where the satellite's sensors detected actively burning fire are outlined in red. You can see more NASA satellite images of the Tripod fire.

NASA image courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center.

See the related video, Washington: Warming and Wildfires.