Black Mountain
Fire, Missoula County, MT
16 August 2003
As viewed by the FireMapper
Thermal-Imaging Radiometer
Images were collected from the PSW Airborne
Sciences Aircraft and disseminated in part by satellite
communications in near-real time. FireMapper measures the
radiance of emitted thermal-infrared light, which readily
penetrates smoke. False-color images shown here depict
the apparent surface temperature (in Celsius) as estimated
from
radiance and a simple black-body model. Warmer tones represent
recent or active combustion; areas of gray are cooling
ash
or warm bare ground (see chart below). Low temperatures
of unburned forest and cool ground are shown in green.
Images have been geographically referenced. Vertical exaggeration
in 3-d views is 1.5 to one unless otherwise noted.
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Location Map
Northern Rocky Mts. (courtesy of
www.geomac.gov). Active fires are labeled in white. |
Click on the image above to view a larger JPEG image
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Fire Imagery
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The following color-coded images depict apparent ground surface temperatures
in Celsius. Roads, streams, and the text in the background are from
a 1:100,000 topographic map.
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Image 1:
Ground surface temperatures as viewed from above at 11.9
micrometers wavelength on 16 August 2003, at 15:58 MDT.
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Click on the image above to view a larger JPEG image |
Image 2:
Topographic view as seen from the west of Image 1. |
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Image 3:
Topographic view as seen from the east of Image 1.
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(opens a new browser window)
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Narrative
from the INCIDENT MANAGEMENT SITUATION REPORT
SATURDAY AUGUST 16, 2003 - 0800 MDT. (Courtesy of www.nifc.gov.)
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BLACK MOUNTAIN 2, Southwestern Land Office,
Montana Department of Natural Resources &
Conservation. A Type 2 Incident Management Team (Dietrich)
is assigned. This fire is in mixed
conifer, understory and grass, nine miles west of Missoula,
MT. Torching and short range spotting
was observed. Structure protection is in place for 650 residences.
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