Calfor Fire in California
![Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images from GOES-17, GOES-15, GOES-14 and GOES-16 [click to play animation | MP4]](https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/images/2021/08/210817_goes17_goes15_goes14_goes16_shortwaveInfrared_Caldor_Fire_CA_anim.gif)
Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images from GOES-17, GOES-15, GOES-14 and GOES-16 [click to play animation | MP4]
The Caldor Fire (east of Sacramento, California) exhibited unprecedented growth on 17 August 2021 — increasing from 3600 acres burned in the morning to 30,000 acres that evening, with 0% containment — and Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images from 1-minute GOES-17, 15 to 30-minute GOES-15, 15 to 30-minute GOES-14 and 5-minute GOES-16 (above) displayed a rapid expansion of the fire’s thermal anomaly (large cluster of hot pixels, darker black enhancement; the white pixels seen in GOES-15 images were due to a “wrap-around” effect with that satellite’s saturated 3.9 µm detectors). Each of the 4 image panels are displayed in the native projection of that particular satellite.
GOES-17 True Color RGB images created using Geo2Grid (below) showed the large amounts of smoke (and frequent pyrocumulus clouds) produced by the Caldor Fire.
GOES-17 True Color RGB images [click to play animation | MP4]