# Presentation: 939988

## A Panoramic View of the Emigrant Gap Fire, California

**13 August 2001**

**Notes:**
These Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer images of the Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada Mountains show several smoke plumes from wildfires burning throughout Northern California on August 13, 2001. The overview image represents an area of 336 kilometers by 332 kilometers, and was acquired by MISR's 46-degree backward-looking camera during Terra orbit 8802.
The most prominent plume arises from the Emigrant Gap Fire, located about 40 kilometers west of Lake Tahoe. The animated panorama uses different MISR cameras to enable this plume to be seen from multiple vantage points as the satellite flies overhead. The animation begins with the view from MISR's 70-degree forward camera, which captured the plume from the north, and moves through six additional camera angles before reaching the 60-degree backward camera, which imaged the plume's southern face. The frames in the animated image were acquired over a time period of about six minutes, and include an area of 79 kilometers by 105 kilometers. The apparent northward displacement of the terrain as the animation plays is due to geometric parallax resulting from the topographic elevation of the scene and the manner in which the images from the different cameras are superimposed. Features with the highest altitudes exhibit the most parallax. A bright "flash" from several water bodies can also be seen at one of the camera angles; this particular angle is catching sunglint from these mirror-like surfaces.
The Emigrant Gap Fire started during the early afternoon of August 12 and was the result of human activity. It was contained within four days, and burned about 2,500 acres in total. Also visible in the overview image are smoke plumes from the Blue Complex Fires (upper right) and the Trough Fire (lower left). The round hill in the Central Valley is Sutter Buttes, and the single snowcapped peak in the upper left is Mount Shasta.
As of August 30, the US Forest Service reported the total year-to-date area burned in Northern California to be in excess of 200,000 acres, or 800 square kilometers.

## A Panoramic View of the Emigrant Gap Fire, California

**13 August 2001**

**multi-angle**
**animation**

**Notes:**
These Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer images of the Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada Mountains show several smoke plumes from wildfires burning throughout Northern California on August 13, 2001. The overview image represents an area of 336 kilometers by 332 kilometers, and was acquired by MISR's 46-degree backward-looking camera during Terra orbit 8802.
The most prominent plume arises from the Emigrant Gap Fire, located about 40 kilometers west of Lake Tahoe. The animated panorama uses different MISR cameras to enable this plume to be seen from multiple vantage points as the satellite flies overhead. The animation begins with the view from MISR's 70-degree forward camera, which captured the plume from the north, and moves through six additional camera angles before reaching the 60-degree backward camera, which imaged the plume's southern face. The frames in the animated image were acquired over a time period of about six minutes, and include an area of 79 kilometers by 105 kilometers. The apparent northward displacement of the terrain as the animation plays is due to geometric parallax resulting from the topographic elevation of the scene and the manner in which the images from the different cameras are superimposed. Features with the highest altitudes exhibit the most parallax. A bright "flash" from several water bodies can also be seen at one of the camera angles; this particular angle is catching sunglint from these mirror-like surfaces.
The Emigrant Gap Fire started during the early afternoon of August 12 and was the result of human activity. It was contained within four days, and burned about 2,500 acres in total. Also visible in the overview image are smoke plumes from the Blue Complex Fires (upper right) and the Trough Fire (lower left). The round hill in the Central Valley is Sutter Buttes, and the single snowcapped peak in the upper left is Mount Shasta.
As of August 30, the US Forest Service reported the total year-to-date area burned in Northern California to be in excess of 200,000 acres, or 800 square kilometers.

## Mixing Waters and 

**Moving Ships off the **
**North Carolina Coast **
**14 August 2000**

**Notes:**
The estuarine and marine environments of the United States' eastern seaboard provide the setting for a variety of natural and human activities associated with the flow of water. This set of Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer images from October 11, 2000 (Terra orbit 4344) captures the intricate system of barrier islands, wetlands, and estuaries comprising the coastal environments of North Carolina and southern Virginia. On the right-hand side of the images, a thin line of land provides a tenuous separation between the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds and the Atlantic Ocean. The wetland communities of this area are vital to productive fisheries and water quality. 
The top image covers an area of about 350 kilometers x 260 kilometers and is a true-color view from MISR's 46-degree backward-looking camera. Looking away from the Sun suppresses glint from the reflective water surface and enables mapping the color of suspended sediments and plant life near the coast. Out in the open sea, the dark blue waters indicate the Gulf Stream. As it flows toward the northeast, this ocean current presses close to Cape Hatteras (the pointed cape in the lower portion of the images), and brings warm, nutrient-poor waters northward from equatorial latitudes. North Carolina's Outer Banks are often subjected to powerful currents and storms which cause erosion along the east-facing shorelines. In an effort to save the historic Cape Hatteras lighthouse from the encroaching sea, it was jacked out of the ground and moved about 350 meters in 1999. 
The bottom image was created with red band data from the 46-degree backward, 70-degree forward, and 26-degree forward cameras displayed as red, green, and blue, respectively. The color variations in this multi-angle composite indicate different angular (rather than spectral) signatures. Here, the increased reflection of land vegetation at the angle viewing away from the Sun causes a reddish tint. Water, on the other hand, appears predominantly in shades of blue and green due to the bright sunglint captured by the forward-viewing cameras. Contrasting angular signatures, most likely associated with variations in the orientation and slope of wind-driven surface waves, are apparent in the sunglint patterns.
Details of human activities are visible in these images. Near the top center, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel complex, which links Norfolk with Virginia's eastern shore, can be seen. The locations of two tunnels which route automobiles below the water appear as gaps in the visible roadway. In the top image, the small white specks in the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean are ship wakes. The movements of the ships have been visualized by displaying the views from MISR's four backward-viewing cameras in an animated sequence. These cameras successively observe the same surface locations over a time interval of about 160 seconds. The large version of the animation covers an area of 135 kilometers x 130 kilometers. The land area on the left-hand side includes the birthplace of aviation, Kitty Hawk, where the Wright Brothers made their first sustained, powered flight in 1903.

## Mixing Waters and 

**Moving Ships off the **
**North Carolina Coast **
**14 August 2000**

**multi-angle**
**animation**

**Notes:**
The estuarine and marine environments of the United States' eastern seaboard provide the setting for a variety of natural and human activities associated with the flow of water. This set of Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer images from October 11, 2000 (Terra orbit 4344) captures the intricate system of barrier islands, wetlands, and estuaries comprising the coastal environments of North Carolina and southern Virginia. On the right-hand side of the images, a thin line of land provides a tenuous separation between the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds and the Atlantic Ocean. The wetland communities of this area are vital to productive fisheries and water quality. 
The top image covers an area of about 350 kilometers x 260 kilometers and is a true-color view from MISR's 46-degree backward-looking camera. Looking away from the Sun suppresses glint from the reflective water surface and enables mapping the color of suspended sediments and plant life near the coast. Out in the open sea, the dark blue waters indicate the Gulf Stream. As it flows toward the northeast, this ocean current presses close to Cape Hatteras (the pointed cape in the lower portion of the images), and brings warm, nutrient-poor waters northward from equatorial latitudes. North Carolina's Outer Banks are often subjected to powerful currents and storms which cause erosion along the east-facing shorelines. In an effort to save the historic Cape Hatteras lighthouse from the encroaching sea, it was jacked out of the ground and moved about 350 meters in 1999. 
The bottom image was created with red band data from the 46-degree backward, 70-degree forward, and 26-degree forward cameras displayed as red, green, and blue, respectively. The color variations in this multi-angle composite indicate different angular (rather than spectral) signatures. Here, the increased reflection of land vegetation at the angle viewing away from the Sun causes a reddish tint. Water, on the other hand, appears predominantly in shades of blue and green due to the bright sunglint captured by the forward-viewing cameras. Contrasting angular signatures, most likely associated with variations in the orientation and slope of wind-driven surface waves, are apparent in the sunglint patterns.
Details of human activities are visible in these images. Near the top center, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel complex, which links Norfolk with Virginia's eastern shore, can be seen. The locations of two tunnels which route automobiles below the water appear as gaps in the visible roadway. In the top image, the small white specks in the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean are ship wakes. The movements of the ships have been visualized by displaying the views from MISR's four backward-viewing cameras in an animated sequence. These cameras successively observe the same surface locations over a time interval of about 160 seconds. The large version of the animation covers an area of 135 kilometers x 130 kilometers. The land area on the left-hand side includes the birthplace of aviation, Kitty Hawk, where the Wright Brothers made their first sustained, powered flight in 1903.

## Deepest Canyons of the Andes

**17 July 2000**

## Where on Earth...?

**MISR Mystery Image**
**Quiz #3**
**20 August 2001**