Soberanes Fire aerial, VIIRS, & MODIS data

Here is last night’s aerial infrared survey:

Enlarging the area near Cachagua:

Here’s last night’s and the night before’s Cal Fire outlines:

Zooming in:

Modest enlargement is visible. The greatest fire area gain is the filling in between the two arms of the fire near the General Store where there was so much back burning.

Here’s the MODIS data from both of last night’s passes:

Zooming in to the areas with the new hotspots:

There were two caught on the first pass (marked with the two arrows), and only one on the second (the single arrow). This is the lowest activity we’ve seen since the start of the fire.

[VIIRS data added at 0930]

The most recent VIIRS pass shows a lot more fire activity than last night’s MODIS pass:

In the southwest:

And in the southeast:

The eastern movement in the southeast image below the place where all the back burning took place is a concern to me.

The orange lines are the dozer fire breaks that were in as of 7/30, plus one that I added by hand. The pink lines are the ones that were planned as of that date. The fat black lines are the outlines of the fire’s perimeter on the official Cal Fire maps from last night.

How to read the MODIS/VIIRS heat indications: The size of the square represents the nominal margin of error. The fire could be anywhere in the square, not just at the center. Dark red squares were detected less than six hours before the data set was created. Light red squares were detected less than twelve hours before the data set was created. Orange squares were detected less than 24 hours before the data set was created. Yellow squares were detected less than six days before the data set was created. When the squares overlay other objects, the color of the square changes somewhat, but the color of the dot in the middle does not. So look at the dot if you’re uncertain what color the square should be. Since the fire is now over six days old, some of the early detections have dropped off the map. MODIS makes mistakes, sometimes missing outbreaks, and sometime misplacing them outside the nominal margin of error. It is also a snapshot of the activity at the time the satellite is overhead, and will definitely miss flare ups between passes. MODIS can’t tell the difference between wildfires and intentional back burns.

Today’s objectives are a lot like yesterday’s: