Fires in Queensland, Australia

Fires in Queensland, Australia. A wide break in the smattering of small popcorn clouds to the north and south gave the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite a clear view of numerous fires (red dots) burning in southern Queensland between the Simpson and Sturt Stony Deserts (left center edge and lower left corner, respectively) and the continent’s east coast. This image was captured on October 6, 2004.

Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean. To its north is the Torres Strait, with Papua New Guinea located less than 200 km across it from the mainland. The state is the world’s sixth-largest sub-national entity, with an area of 1,852,642 square kilometres (715,309 sq mi).
As of 15 May 2018, Queensland had a population of 5,000,000, concentrated along the coast and particularly in the state’s South East. The capital and largest city in the state is Brisbane, Australia’s third-largest city. Often referred to as the “Sunshine State”, Queensland is home to 10 of Australia’s 30 largest cities and is the nation’s third-largest economy. Tourism in the state, fuelled largely by its warm climate, is a major industry.

Credit: NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team.