Image Archives

Introduction

This page contains Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Satellite images of the Western United States for past years.

YEAR 2004 SATELLITE IMAGES

January	July
Feburary	August
March	September
April	October
May	November
June	December

YEAR 2003 SATELLITE IMAGES

January	Feburary
March	April
May	June
July	August
September	October
November	December

YEAR 2002 SATELLITE IMAGES

January	Feburary
March	April
May	June
July	August
September	October
November	December

 
YEAR 2001 SATELLITE IMAGES

June	July
August	September
October	November
December

Disclaimer: Many of the fires shown on this web page have been named using the descriptions of the fires from the daily interagency fire situation reports. Care has been taken to use remote sensing satellites to correctly locate and identify the fires, For a listing of the current fire status and location of fires, see the interagency fire situation report. The USDA Forest Service uses the most current and complete data available. GIS data and product accuracy may vary. Using GIS products for purposes other than those for which they were intended may yield inaccurate or misleading results. The USDA Forest Service reserves the right to correct, update, modify or replace GIS products without notification.

The AVHRR satellite bands used for viewing images consist of bands 1, 2, 3 and occasionally  4. Since these bands are located in different parts of the spectrum, they are used for different purposes. A brief description is given below:
The AVHRR satellite bands used for creating the simulated natural color images are bands 1,  2 and 3. To create the RGB (red, green, blue) image, band 3 (the thermal infra-red band) is displayed in red, band 2 (the near infrared band) is displayed in green, and band 1 (visible red) is displayed in blue.  (To see full image, go to July 3, 2001 7:24 a.m. )
Band 1 is in the visible (red) part of the spectrum and is shown in gray tones. This band is useful in looking at weather patterns and for viewing smoke. Fires cannot be seen using band 1, but sometimes the smoke they produce can show up of the image. To see fires, a thermal band must be used. Since band 1 is a visible band, it can only be used during the daylight hours. Images during the night are dark and nothing can be seen on the image. See the example daytime  image to the right. (To see full image, go to July 5, 2000 8:13 p.m. ) Occasionally band 4 is used if band 1 is unavailable. Band 4 is a thermal band and is not in the visible part of the spectrum. It is sensitive to temperature differences between the land surface and clouds and so by enchancing it the weather patterns can be shown. Images using Band 4 have been enhanced such that they appear nearly the same as band 1.
Band 3 is in the infra red part of the spectrum and is used to pick up the thermal signatures of fires. For display, this band is shown in red tones which enhance the ability to locate fires. Hot objects such as fires will show up as white and cool areas will be very dark. Since this band is a thermal band, it can be viewed during both the day and night.  Band 3 is most effectively viewed during the evening hours, and  throughout the night into the early morning. Due to the heating of the earth by the sun, band 3 tends to get saturated during the day and fires are hard to locate, if they can be located. See the sample image to the right. (To see full image, go to July 5, 2000 8:13 p.m. )

Navigating to view the images: