NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Many Bushfires in Queensland, Aus.

NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on the Aqua satellite acquired an image showing smoke streaming west-southwest from several bushfires throughout Queensland, Australia. The fires are marked in red.

The Queensland Fire and Rescue (QFR) website reported multiple grass fires near Ward and Charleville on November 15, 2011. The QFR reported that water bombing aircraft and fire crews were battling the grass fires on Nov. 15. The fires have been burning there for the last three days, but no homes are threatened in that bush fire.

2011 has been an intense fire season. Earlier in the year, La Niña rains built up a thick growth of grass, which is now dry fuel. The QFR noted that Queensland is in a "Fire Danger Period," and that designation runs until midnight January 1, 2012.

NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Caption by Rob Gutro, NASA Goddard.