The extensive black smoke plume created by the Watertown, WI tire fire is quite visable on imagery collected by several high altitude imaging satellites. The fire, which began on July 19th in a massive pile of nearly a half-million old tires, burned for nearly a week creating a black smoke plume that could be seen from tens of miles away.
Soon after the fire began, the smoke plume extended nearly 100 miles to the southeast crossing the City of Milwaukee and extending over Lake Michigan. Two imaging satellites, Aqua, with its MODIS sensor, and Landsat passed over the area soon after the fire began capturing stunning views.
Images and descriptions may be viewed on the web site of the UW-Madison’s Environmental Remote Sensing Center (ERSC). ERSC is a research and graduate training facility that uses various geospatial technologies to analyze issues in the environmental sciences.
More information: View satellite images of the Watertown tire fire.
ERSC and UW-Madison News