Texas Panhandle Fires: 12-16
March 2006
Robert Rabin1
1NOAA/NSSL and
UW-Madison/CIMSS
BACKGROUND
Extremely dry soil, combined with periodic episodes of strong winds,
unseasonable warmth, and very low relative humidity have lead to the
high risk of wild-fires across portions of the Southern Plains from
late
December 2005 through mid March 2006. Very large fires in the
Texas Panhandle ignited on 12 March 2006, causing loss of property and
life.
This web site presents 1) maps of fire locations estimated from GOES
satellite imagery, and 2) high resolution animations of visible and 3.9
micron imagery during the afternoon of 12 March.
Fire locations are from the GOES
Automated Biomass Burning Algorithm (ABBA)
produced at the Cooperative Instutute
of Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS),
University of Wisconsin-Madison. They are accumulated hourly and
daily for display at the NOAA/SPC. For purposes
of this study, fire locations have been accumulated over a period of
days to compare with surface vegetation conditions, soil moisture, and
population maps.
In addition, strong southwesterly surface winds behind a dryline on
30 March 2006 (two weeks after the fires) appear to have transported
surface debris from the fire scars in the form of dust or ash plumes
into Oklahoma. These plumes appear to be darker than dust plumes
normally observed in west Texas. Clouds appeared to form within
the plumes just west of the dryline in Oklahoma and these clouds may
have had a subsequent influence on the organization of ongoing storms
to the east, see Movie 3 (from Scott
Bachmeier, CIMSS).
Java based applications used for interactive animations were
developed
by Tom Whittaker of the Space Science and Engineering Center SSEC,
University of Wisconsin-Madison. The animations can take a while
to load, depending on network speed, computer systems, etc. Also, there
can be a problem viewing these on certain machines (Macs).
Movie 1. Fire locations 11-16 March 2006
with overlays of NDVI.
Movie 2.
Visible and 3.9
micron imagery 12 March 2006.
Dark pixels in the 3.9 micron images
indicate very high brightness
temperature. These are likely the result of wildfires within at
least
a fraction of the pixel. In a few cases, these pixels
appear white
due to saturation of the radiometer.
Movie 3.
Visible imagery
(GOES-12) 30 March 2006.
Note the dark plumes which eminate from the burn scars in west Texas.
Movie 4a
Movie 4b.
Multispectral imagery (GOES-12) 30 March 2006.
Movie 5.
Multispectral imagery (GOES-10) 30 March 2006.
Movie 6.
Multispectral imagery (GOES-12) 06 April 2006.
Comparison of MODIS data: Visible (250 m
sampling)
Aerosol Optical Depth
Cloud Top Pressure
Cloud Fraction
Cloud particle effective radius
Cloud Optical Depth
Comparison of GOES-12, GOES-10, and MODIS visible imagery
Disclaimer. The products from GOES or other
satellites
shown here are experimental. These have been generated within a
research environment and are not intended to be considered operational.
Timeliness, availability, and accuracy are sought but not guaranteed.
Return to CIMSS
(UW-Madison)
or NSSL (NOAA/NSSL).
Last update was 17 March 2006. Feedback.