Aspen Fire, Arizona

On June 26, NASA's Terra satellite acquired this image of the Aspen fire burning out of control north of Tucson, AZ. As of that date, the fire had consumed more than 27,000 acres and destroyed more than 300 homes, mostly in the resort community of Summerhaven, according to news reports. These data are being used by NASA's Wildfire Response Team and the US Forest Service to assess the intensity of the burn for future remediation efforts.

This image was acquired on June 26, 2003 by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on Terra. With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region, and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters (about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER images Earth to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet.

ASTER is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched December 18, 1999, on NASA's Terra satellite. The instrument was built by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. A joint U.S./Japan science team is responsible for validation and calibration of the instrument and the data products.

The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER provides scientists in numerous disciplines with critical information for surface mapping, and monitoring of dynamic conditions and temporal change. Example applications are: monitoring glacial advances and retreats; monitoring potentially active volcanoes; identifying crop stress; determining cloud morphology and physical properties; wetlands evaluation; thermal pollution monitoring; coral reef degradation; surface temperature mapping of soils and geology; and measuring surface heat balance.

Dr. Anne Kahle at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA, is the U.S. science team leader; Bjorn Eng of JPL is the project manager. The Terra mission is part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, a long- term research effort to understand and protect our home planet. Through the study of Earth, NASA will help to provide sound science to policy and economic decision-makers so as to better life here, while developing the technologies needed to explore the universe and search for life beyond our home planet.

Size: 41.2 by 47.3 km (25.5 by 29.3 miles)
Location: 32.4 degrees North latitude, 110.8 degrees West longitude
Orientation: North at top
Image Data: ASTER bands 1,2, and 3
Original Data Resolution: 15 meters (49.2 feet)
Date Acquired: June 26, 2003