ExploraTour - Looking at the World in a Different Light


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Sometimes very large fires burn up forests in the western United States. If you look at the picture you will see why it is so hard for fire fighters to put out these massive blazes. The smoke is so dense that it is difficult to locate the actual places where the fire is most intense from aircraft so that fire fighters and equipment can be sent there.

When the fire is viewed by the infrared radiation it sends out, it is possible to "see" through the smoke to the fire underneath.

Click on the other two images below. These were each taken in infrared light. One in light just beyond red (mid_IR) and the other even farther beyond red (Thermal IR). In the last picture, the smoke is almost totally invisible and the fires can be clearly seen.

These kind of techniques make the fire fighters job safer and easier.


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Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA