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Grassland fire in South Dakota

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 Fire Temperature RGB (top left), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm, top right), Fire Power (bottom left) and Fire Temperature (bottom right) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Fire Temperature RGB, Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), Fire Power derived product and Fire Temperature derived product images (above) showed the thermal signatures associated with a wind-driven grassland fire in north-central South Dakota on 06 November 2022. The Fire Temperature and Fire Power derived products are components of the GOES Fire Detection and Characterization Algorithm FDCA. The earliest unambiguous fire signature was seen in the 3.9 µm imagery at 1720 UTC, as infrared brightness temperatures began to increase. The first Fire Power pixel then appeared at 1724 UTC, with the first Fire Temperature RGB pixel appearing at 1727 UTC. At 1743 UTC, the hottest 3.9 µm brightness temperature occurred (9.78ºC) along with the peak Fire Power value of 1459.1 MW.

GOES-16 True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (below) displayed the smoke plume as it drifted southeastward and eventually crossed the South Dakota / Minnesota border — and a dark burn scar became apparent at the fire source region.

GOES-16 True Color RGB images [click to play MP4 animation]

NOAA-20 VIIRS True Color and False Color RGB images valid at 1944 UTC (below) provided a higher spatial resolution view of the smoke plume; on the False Color RGB image, pink pixels highlighted the hottest portions of the wind-driven fire at that time. The VIIRS data used to create these images were acquired and processed by the SSEC/CIMSS Direct Broadcast ground station.

VIIRS True Color and False Color RGB images, valid at 1944 UTC [click to enlarge]

===== 07 November Update =====

NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Shortwave Infrared (3.74 µm) images valid at 0759 UTC, along with the GOES-16 Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) image at 0756 UTC [click to enlarge]

During the subsequent nighttime hours, a comparison of NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Shortwave Infrared (3.74 µm) images valid at 0759 UTC (above) showed the bright glow and warm thermal signature associated with a small remnant fire near the northwestern end of the burn scar — but the small thermal signature was not apparent in lower spatial resolution GOES-16 Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) imagery at 0756 UTC.

This small fire was not evident in a later Suomi-NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band image valid at 0852 UTC (below) — but the 7-8 mile long dark burn scar was easily seen between Bowdle and Loyalton.

Suomi-NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) image, valid at 0852 UTC [click to enlarge]

Categories: Fire detection, GOES-16, NOAA-20, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Suomi NPP, VIIRS