Okefenokee Swamp Fire, Georgia

Large smoke plumes were produced by the Blackjack complex fire in southeastern Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp on May 8, 2002. Smoke from the fires, (which contributed to hazy skies across much of north Florida) is apparent in this image pair from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer. The fires started in late April, and had grown to consume about 95,000 acres of swampland and longleaf pine forest by May 20. Fire is a natural part of the swamp ecosystem, however, and a number of key plant and animal species within the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge ecosystems are dependent on fire for their survival.

The images illustrate the extent of the smoke using two types of visualization. The top panel is a natural-color view acquired by MISR's nadir (vertical-viewing) camera, and the lower view is a 3D stereo anaglyph created using data from MISR's 46-degree and 70-degree backward-viewing cameras.

To facilitate stereo viewing, the images have been oriented with north toward the left. Red/blue glasses are required to view the image in 3D, with the red filter placed over your left eye. Information on ordering glasses can be found here.

The images represent an area of about 292 kilometers x 213 kilometers, and were captured during Terra orbit 12703, utilizing data from path 16, blocks 63 to 66.