Fires in Utah (Afternoon Overpass)

This series of images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra and Aqua satellites in mid-July 2003 shows fire activity in Utah. Over the period, several small fires reach detectable levels and then subside. For example, the Farmington Fire east of the Great Salt Lake is visible on July 11, but not on July 12. By July 13, a small fire has been detected south of the lake, but that fire was not detected again in the imagery from July 14. Toward the south of the images, however, the large Bulldog Fire on the Colorado Plateau remained active throughout the time period. All active fire detections are marked with red dots or outlines in these images.

Utah is a state in the western United States. It became the 45th state admitted to the U.S. on January 4, 1896. Utah is the 13th-largest by area, 30th-most-populous, and 11th-least-densely populated of the 50 United States. Utah has a population of more than 3 million according to the Census estimate for July 1, 2016. Urban development is mostly concentrated in two areas: the Wasatch Front in the north-central part of the state, which contains approximately 2.5 million people; and Washington County in Southern Utah, with over 160,000 residents. Utah is bordered by Colorado to the east, Wyoming to the northeast, Idaho to the north, Arizona to the south, and Nevada to the west. It also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast.

Credit: Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC