NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

This three-dimensional image of the Mint Fire burn area on Sierra Pelona Ridge between Agua Dulce and Palmdale, Calif., was developed from infrared data recorded by the Autonomous Modular Sensor mounted in NASA Dryden's Beechcraft B-200 King Air aircraft on a shakedown flight Sept. 19. The bright red area shows the actual area burned from its ignition point near the bottom of the image to the top of the ridge line where the fire was stopped after burning about 650 to 700 acres of grass and brush Sept. 17-18. Spatial resolution of the burn area image overlaid on a Google Earth terrain graphic is about 4 meters.

A shakedown or checkout flight is necessary after every reinstallation of the sensor to certify operational instrument configuration, prior to supporting critical imaging efforts. The device is now ready to support imaging of wildfire events in California through October if requested by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CALFIRE under an agreement between NASA or from incident command teams. (NASA/USGS/Google Earth)

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