November 27, 2020 - Fires in Queensland

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   Fires in Queensland
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   On October 15, 2020, a small fire ignited on Queensland’s Fraser Island
   – likely from an illegal campfire. By November 26 that small fire had
   turned into a relentless inferno, charring 72,000 hectares of the
   island's unique vegetation. According to Wildfire Today, the fire now
   stretches across 46 miles of the 76-mile long island and appears to
   burn in a mosaic pattern, leaving some vegetation unburnt within the
   fire footprint.

   Frasier Island is the world’s largest sand island and an UNESCO World
   Heritage site. It is unique not only for the size of the shifting sand
   dunes, but also for its rainforests. According to the World Heritage
   description, “Inland from the beach are majestic remnants of tall
   rainforest growing on tall sand dunes, a phenomenon believed to be
   unique in the world. Half of the world’s perched freshwater dune lakes
   occur on the island, producing a spectacular and varied landscape. The
   world’s largest unconfined aquifer on a sand island has also been found
   here.” The trees on the island rise to 50 meters (164 feet) - the same
   height as the tallest building in the District of Columbia, the capital
   city of the United States.

   It's not just the rainforest that is unique on the island. UNESCO's
   description continues, “There is clear zonation and succession of plant
   communities according to salinity, water table, age and nutrient status
   of dune sands, exposure and fire frequency. The low shrubby heaths
   (‘wallum’) are of considerable evolutionary and ecological
   significance. Fauna, including a number of threatened species of frog,
   have adapted to the highly specialized acidic environment associated
   with wet heathlands and sedgelands in this siliceous sand environment.”

   According to fire fighters, the fire is moving slowly southward, giving
   some animals time to move out of the fire zone. The weather has been
   dry for “quite some time”, according to one report, and strong winds
   are making fire fighting difficult. A heatwave is expected for the next
   week over eastern Queensland, which will not help fire fighters quench
   the flames that threaten this unique environment.

   The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board
   NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of fires across
   Queensland on November 23. Frasier Island can be seen just off the
   Queensland coast and is covered with red hot spots and smoke. Each hot
   spot marks an area where the thermal bands detected temperatures higher
   than background. When combined with typical smoke, as in this image,
   such hot spots mark actively burning fire. Aside from the massive
   Fraser Island fire, at least a half-dozen bushfires can be seen burning
   on the mainland. Strong winds blow the smoke to the southwest.

   Image Facts
   Satellite:  Aqua
   Date Acquired: 11/23/2020
   Resolutions:  1km (49.3 KB),  500m (175.1 KB),  250m (551.6
   KB)
   Bands Used: 1,4,3
   Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2020-11-27
 
