29 July 2007

Brisbane area bushfires

Several fires reported around the Brisbane area earlier this afternoon and evening. Here is the link.

Here is an image of the fires downloaded from the GA Sentinel site. The Esk fires noted in the report are to the far left. It is not clear to me which of the fires mentioned are the largest area in the image. That area of fire appears to be burning in an area of bushland away from any homes, roads etc.

A thick smoke plume is apparent from this fire in the imagery.

Looking at the weather conditions, these fires appear to be largely wind driven. Winds in the regions were quite strong (20-25 kts) this afternoon, with much higher gusts. Temperatures and humidities are fairly modest.

24 July 2007

Australian Fire Activity: 10-19 July 2007

Here is the latest 10-day hotspot composite for Australia from the NASA MODIS satellite. The dates of the composite are from 10 to 19 July 2007.

Significant fire activity continues in the Top End of NT. Significant fire areas are also noted in the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of WA.

Fire in the Cape York Peninsula are also seen at about the same level of activity as the last composite. Widespread fires are also noted in SE QLD and northern NSw. Many of the fires in the latter regions are likely prescribed fuel-reduction burns.

Overall, fire activity is continues to be lower than that observed over the same period last year.

Investigations have begun into the cause of two large bushfires which threatened property in the Northern Territory's Top End late last week.

Forty volunteer firefighters battled the blazes for three days around Acacia Hills and Batchelor.

The two fast-moving fires burnt an estimated 40 square kilometres of land.

A close-up of the hotspot maps also suggests a large active fire near Mt Elizabeth in WA. No information is available. No emergency warnings have been issued in WA


11 July 2007

Recent Australian Fire Activity

Here is the latest 10-day composite from NASA MODIS Rapid Response. The dates of the composite are 30 June through 9 July 2007.


The primary focus of fire activity during this time remain the Top End of the NT. The region of active fires has expanded in the NT.

Also showing an increase in fire activity is the Cape York Peninsula.

There is also widely scattered hotspots across much of SE QLD. Some of these fires, near Gold Coast, were noted in the previous post. Clouds were seen on several days in this region, so the number of hotspots may be low.

Widely scattered fires are also seen in the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of WA. These are, for the most part, new activity not seen in the previous composite.

Fire activity is relatively low compared to the same period last year. Fires then were much more extensive across NT and the Kimberley, as well as much larger area covered by hotspots was seen in northern NSW and SE QLD.

07 July 2007

Wildfires on QLD/NSW Border

Largish fires reported today in NSW and QLD. Several news reports from ABC News online. Here is a hotspot image that I captured off the Sentinel website , showing these fires (and some others). While making the image, I identified the locations of all the fires mentioned in the articles. On the image, the Chillingham fires is the southeast group and the Mt Nathan fire is the northeast group. No reports on the group to the northwest, near Tarome, QLD. It was not noted in the QFRS Significant Fire Report for the day, either.

Notes
  • Not a classic fire weather day by any stretch of the imagination...low temperatures, but gusty winds, at times.
  • Several of the fires were started by escaped burns by private landowners

02 July 2007

Recent Australian Fire Activity

Images extracted from NASA MODIS Rapid Response . The image is a composite of 'hotspots' over the globe as seen from the MODIS satellite over 10 days (20-29 Jun 2007 in this instance).


Nationwide, fire activity is currently very low. The number and areal coverage of the fires is down compared to the same period last year, where fires were more widespread. This year, widespread fires are seen in northwestern NT and to a smaller degree, the Cape York Peninsula. The reduction in fire is more than likely a result of the rather cold and wet Dry it has been in the tropical north thus far.