So far in 2023, western Canada has been overwhelmed with wildfires and smoke, and within the last week new fires erupted in the eastern province of Nova Scotia. At the time of this blog entry, over 22,000 hectares (or 54,000+ acres) were burned in the province.
A VIIRS Day Fire RGB animation of the Nova Scotian fires, the fire extent and smoke can be observed at a high spatial resoluti0n of 375-m. Click on the video below. The animation includes VIIRS daytime overpasses from SNPP, NOAA-20 and NOAA-21 over the span of several days, 27 May through 1 June 2023. Notice how the fires rapidly move eastward over time. Corresponding smoke plumes are produced as well, where smoke advects over land and over the North Atlantic Ocean.
The VIIRS Active Fires product also observed the fire hotspots and fire intensities (i.e., Fire Radiative Power, FRP, expressed in MegaWatts, MW) on the afternoon of 1 June 2023. The quantitative product from NOAA-20 can be seen below, showing higher fire intensities (i.e., orange and dark orange colors) along the southern, eastern and northern flanks of the fires.
Note to Users: The VIIRS Day Fire RGB can be accessed online via CIRA JPSS SLIDER, while the VIIRS Active Fires product is accessible online via RealEarth.
