California fires: burn scar detection
Many large wildfires continued to burn in parts of California on 08 July 2008. A comparison of MODIS false color and true color images from the SSEC MODIS Today site (above) demonstrated the use of the false color imagery for determining the areal coverage of burn scars in the Los Padres National Forest south of Monterey, California; the burn scars show up as reddish-brown features, with active fire hot spots having a brighter light pink appearance on the false color imagery. In the true color imagery, it is difficult to discriminate between thick smoke from the fires and stratus clouds right along the coast, but the smoke exhibits a light blue tint on the false color imagery.