A smoke alert has been issued by the Department of Parks and Wildlife in Western Australia to deal with the voluminous amounts of smoke that are coming from fires deliberately set by the government to remove brush and overgrowth. This is being done in anticipation of bushfires that may crop up during the fire season coming up in this area of the globe. If this debris is left unchecked the bushfires that begin accidentally might grow out of control more quickly with additional fuel in their paths. The Department of Parks and Wildlife posted the following: “Smoke Alert for Bunbury to Walpole in the South West and lower South West –A smoke alert has been issued for south west and lower south west from Bunbury to Walpole including the towns of Busselton, Margaret River, Manjimup, Quinninup, Northcliffe, Pemberton and Denmark and others in these areas. The smoke is due to prescribed burns carried out today to manage bushfire risk and is expected to clear by tomorrow. Smoke is impacting Muir Highway, South West Highway south of Manjimup and the South Coast Highway between Walpole and Denmark.”
This image was captured on December 08, 2016 by the Suomi NPP satellite’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument and shows the huge clouds of grey/brown smoke rising from the burns. The Suomi NPP satellite is a joint mission between NASA, NOAA and the U.S. Department of Defense.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption: NASA/Goddard, Lynn Jenner