Forest fire in Portugal<
ASTER VNIR Level 1B

Unusual heat struck Europe 2003 summer.
Unprecedented temperature marked the record high in many cities, taking away lives of dozens of people. The heat also caused forest fires in many parts of the area stretching from Poland to Iberia Peninsula. The most severely hit was Portugal, whose forest as large as 26,000ha was burnt down. The fire occurred in the early August, and so far 16 people lost their lives.

The unusual heat as a result of global warming generates forest fires and further deepens the warming effect by the increased CO2 and decreased forest resources. Finding solutions to cut such a vicious circle may be needed. ASTER observed the forest fire on 13 August 2003 by urgent request. The ASTER Band10, Band3 and Band8 are allocated to Blue, Green and Red respectively in order to enhance visual perception of the damages by fire. The forest fire burnt down areas appearing in purple or magenta in the image.