GOES-West Mesoscale view - Fire Temperature at 42°N - 122°W - Siskiyou County, CA

Fire Temperature key:

1 - Warm fire
2 - Very warm fire
3 - Hot fire
4 - Very hot fire
5 - Burn scars
6 - Clear sky: land
7 - Clear sky: water/snow/night
8 - Water clouds
9 - Ice clouds

Fire Temperature RGB allows the user to identify where the most intense fires are occurring and differentiate these from "cooler" fires. The RGB takes advantage of the fact that from 3.9µm to shorter wavelengths, background solar radiation and surface reflectance increases. This means that fires need to be more intense in order to be detected by the 2.2 and 1.6µm bands, as more intense fires emit more radiation at these wavelengths. Therefore, small/"cool" fires will only show up at 3.9µm and appear red while increases in fire intensity cause greater contributions of the other channels resulting in white very intense fires.

• For more details, see the Fire Temperature RGB Quick Guide, (PDF, 1.2 MB)