MSGID: 1:317/3 643994c5   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   April 14, 2023 - Burn Scars across Eastern Kansas   
      
      [image04142023_main.jpg] [image04142023_rollover.jpg]   
      
      April 12, 2023 March 19, 2023   
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      Strong winds, unseasonably warm air temperatures, and extremely dry   
      prairie grasses set the stage for an outbreak of wildfires in Kansas   
      between late March and early April 2023. Firefighters had their hands   
      full battling dozens of fires, both large and small.   
      
      While the cause of most of the wildfires wasn’t known, others were due   
      to escaped fires ignited to manage land. According to the Riley County   
      government website, two major fires in that county on April 10 were   
      prescribed burns that got out of control. Combined, they had burnt more   
      than 3,500 acres. Prescribed burns are used to manage agricultural   
      lands and prairie grassland, and spring is a prime time for such burns.   
      Such burns are typically closely managed, but may escape control even   
      in the best of conditions. In extreme fire weather, such as experienced   
      in central and eastern Kansas over the last month, escaped burns can   
      quickly become catastrophic.   
      
      On April 12, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly issued a verbal declaration of   
      disaster emergency, due to the amount of wildland fires across the   
      state. According to the state Fire Service website, as of April 13 much   
      of Kansas is under Red Flag Warnings-Extreme Fire Danger due to high   
      winds and low relative humidity. The report states, “Fire departments   
      in many areas have been run ragged with multiple fires a day, and   
      multi-day fires recently. Most of KS remains very dry, and getting   
      warmer. Fire danger indices are at or above the 95th percentile in all   
      but the southeast, where greenup is progressing.”   
      
      The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board   
      NASA’s Terra satellite acquired two false-color images of eastern   
      Kansas, one on April 12 and the other on March 19. The images are   
      easily compared by tapping on the dates to toggle between the two.   
      
      In this type of false-color image, vegetation appears green, open land   
      looks tan or brown, and water is blue. In addition, burn scars—areas   
      recently scorched by fire—may appear brown, brick red, or black,   
      depending on various factors such as the soil type, the heat of the   
      burn, how long ago the burn occurred, and if any vegetation remained or   
      regrew in the scar. In the April 12 image, it is easy to see an   
      abundance of brick-red burn scars. The majority of these sit in a rough   
      triangle between the towns of Topeka (northeast), Manhattan   
      (northwest), and Wichita (south and west of Manhattan). Toggling to the   
      March 19 image, it’s obvious that these are all very recent burns. In   
      fact, a few have active fires (red hot spots) at their edges.   
      
      Image Facts   
      Satellite:  Terra   
      Date Acquired: 4/12/2023   
      Resolutions:  1km (397 KB),  500m (878.6 KB),  250m (559.5 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=2023-04-14   
       
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