21 August 2013
Posted by Dan Satterfield
GOES Visible shot showing the Idaho/Montana wildfires spreading smoke across a large area again Tuesday night, August 20.
Climate Central has put together some rather scary statistics-
Andy Freedman at Climate Central has more on it. Worth a read.
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.
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Dan,
Do you think any of this measurable increase in reported forest fires could be due to the incredible satellite coverage we have now compared to in the 1980’s?
Good question but that is very unlikely. We had 1 km resolution GOES vis imagery in the 1980’s. It’s better now, but wildfires were spotted then just as well as now. I remember tracking the dust using GOES in May of 1980. It was easy to see it and fire crews have been using satellite data to spot fires since the 1970’s.
That’s an alarming stats. Dan, do you suggest any specific measures to fix this problem or maybe we have to carry on with it?