Fontenelle Fire, Wyo. - Jul. 2, 2012

Smoke from western Wyoming's Fontenelle Fire continues and was spotted again by NASA satellite imagery at the fire grew from over 22,000 acres to more than 44,000 acres since June 28 to July 2.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument onboard Aqua has infrared capabilities that can detect heat. In the MODIS images, fires, or hot spots are color coded as red areas in imagery and smoke appears in light brown. Images are generated at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

This image shows the heat and smoke from the Fonterelle fire in western Wyoming. The image was captured on July 1, 2012 at 20:45 UTC (4:45 p.m. EDT). The smoke was blowing in a north-northeasterly direction on the satellite image. This fire has consumed 47,478 acres and according to the U.S. Forest Service it located in Lincoln and Sublette County, Wyoming. The U.S. Forest Service reported on July 2, that the "Fire behavior was extreme with running fire in the grass and sage." On July 2, the fire was five percent contained.

For a higher resolution image, visit: http://lance-modis.eosdis.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/imagery/single.cgi?image=Wyoming.A2012183.2045.1km.jpg.

Image: Jeff Schmaltz, NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team
Caption: Rob Gutro, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center