Satellite Image Shows Smoke From California Wildfires Over Pacific Ocean

KEY POINTS

A NASA satellite captured thick wildfire smoke over the Pacific Ocean
Most of the smoke came from the August Complex Fire, says NASA
Thousands of firefighters continue to battle the flames, which have burned over 1 million acres of land

NASA shared a satellite image showing thick smoke from the California fires over the Pacific Ocean.

On Wednesday, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured a natural-color image of thick smoke from the California fires over the Pacific Ocean.

In the image, shared by NASA Earth Observatory, the thick smoke emanating from the California coast can be seen blowing westward over the ocean. The wildfire smoke can clearly be seen in dark gray or brown hues against the bright white clouds.

California Wildfire Smoke — Image: California wildfire smoke over the Pacific Ocean on the morning of Sept. 2, 2020. This satellite image was captured by the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite. Terra Satellite/NASA Earth Observatory

The agency notes that most of the smoke captured in the image was from the August Complex Fire in Mendocino National Forest. When the image was captured, the fire had burned over 260,000 acres and was only 20% contained.

According to InciWeb, the August Complex Fire initially was 37 different fires that started in the Mendocino National Forest on Aug. 17. Although many of the fires were contained, the others merged into one and became the fourth largest fire in California's history, burning 287,106 acres with 23% containment as of Thursday.

The ongoing SCU Lightning Complex and LNU Lightning Complex fires have also grown to become the second and third largest fires in California, respectively. While both are already over 80% contained, hot and dry conditions are expected to continue across the fire region, making firefighting a difficult task.

The #SCULightningComplex is the 2nd largest fire, the #LNULightningComplex is the 3rd largest, and the #AugustComplex has now grown to being the 4th largest fire in California history. Visit https://t.co/6s2QmGvwFi for more information. pic.twitter.com/NDq4GmNQrJ
— CAL FIRE (@CAL_FIRE) September 4, 2020

Nearly 13,000 firefighters are still battling the California fires. On Sept. 1, a team of 10 firefighters from Israel also arrived in Sacramento to help battle the fires.

So far, over 1.5 million acres of land were destroyed in California.

"Since the lightning siege that started on Saturday, August 15, 2020, there have been nearly 14,000 lightning strikes," California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said in a statewide fire summary. "During this time-period, there have been more than 900 new wildfires, which have now burned over 1.5 million acres. There have 8 fatalities and over 3,200 structures destroyed."