Wildfires in Ontario and Quebec, Canada
GOES-13 0.63 µm visible and 3.9 µm shortwave IR images (click image to play animation)
A few large wildfires flared up during the afternoon hours on 20 May 2012 across parts of far eastern Ontario and far western Quebec. In a comparison of GOES-13 0.63 µm visible channel and 3.9 µm shortwave IR channel images (above; click image to play animation; also available as a QuickTime movie), large smoke plumes could be seen emanating from the larger fires, as the fire “hot spots” (black pixels on the shortwave IR imagery) grew in size. The GOES-13 satellite had been placed into Rapid Scan Operations (RSO) mode, providing images as frequently as every 5-10 minutes (compared to the routine operational 15-minute image interval).