Sensors on satellites provide daily, comprehensive images of the Earth's surface. The current Land Surface image, below, is from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) MODIS sensor and shows ground conditions for New Mexico. You might see clouds in the image; these often can be distinguished from snow by their shadows (since snow is on the ground it does not have a shadow). Smoke from wildfires often looks dark compared to clouds, and it often comes from a source, or specific area, on the ground. Learn more about the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) at http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/.

This image is a recent view of New Mexico from space and is from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites. The image displays Visible Red (MODIS Channel 1), Visible Green (MODIS Channel 4), and Visible Blue (MODIS Channel 3) in Red, Green, and Blue, respectively. The image was produced at the Center for Rapid Environmental Assessment and Terrain Evaluation (CREATE) at the University of New Mexico, http://www.unm.edu/create.

Full-sized image, 1206px x 1372px (external site): http://vallesmap.unm.edu/truecolor/current_full.jpg

During wildfire season the satellite images show smoke plumes, as illustrated in the MODIS image for New Mexico, below. Seeing current smoke conditions and the direction that a smoke plume is moving lets people know areas where the air quality is unhealthy. In this image of the Trigo Fire, from April 2008, state boundaries are shown as black lines, as are major hydrologic features, such as rivers. The Rio Grande flows north to south, approximately through the center of the state. The Near Infrared (NIR) channel on the MODIS sensor is displayed in Red in this image; thus, the vegetation is red in color. High-moisture vegetation is especially noticeable along rivers and in agricultural areas; New Mexico's mountain forests are typically composed of coniferous trees, with less moisture in their leaves, and so show as a dark red.