These latest images, captured by NASA satellites on the afternoon of October 22, show the thick, billowing smoke coming off the numerous large fires and spreading over the Pacific Ocean. Fire activity is outlined in red.
Dry, drought-stricken vegetation and Santa Ana winds, which can reach hurricane speeds, have contributed to the devastating effect of these blazes. The National Interagency Fire Center reports that the Santa Ana winds are expected to continue through Wednesday.
According to news reports, almost 700 homes have been destroyed and hundreds of thousands of residents have been forced to evacuate.
Today, President Bush issued an emergency declaration for seven California counties, ordering federal disaster relief to the area.
Source: NASA
Related stories:
Wildfires cause ozone pollution to violate health standards, new study shows
Wildfires can boost ozone pollution to levels that violate U.S. health standards, a new study concludes. The research, by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), focused on California wildfires in 2007, finding that they repeatedly caused ground-level ozone to spike to unhealthy levels across a broad area, including much of rural California as well as neighboring Nevada.
Is 95 the new 75? Or even 35?
Gordon Bern doubled his treadmill time in the Leisure World gym so he could walk on uneven cobblestones during his first visit to Europe over the summer. Such are travel preparations at 95.
Businesses use Web without abandoning physical presence
Chuck Bankoff, Capistrano Beach franchisee for WSI Internet, has not met 90 percent of his clients in person. Most of his work and meetings are done over the Internet.
Scientists obtain first direct observations of protein-synthesis mechanism
Research by UC Santa Cruz molecular biologist Harry Noller and his collaborators has led to the first direct observations of the mechanism for protein synthesis in living cells. Their new findings on ribosomes, the protein-making molecular machines in all cells, are featured on the cover of the April 3, 2008, issue of the international science journal
Nature.
California Wildfires Continue to Grow: NASA Satellite Images Show
NASA satellites have obtained new images of the California wildfires, illustrating the immense scale of the blazes. The National Interagency Fire Center reports that 12 large, uncontained fires have burned over 335,000 acres in Southern California. The fires have continued to spread due to the fierce, dry Santa Ana winds.
Early fire risk for mountains near Los Angeles
Researchers at the University of Utah and elsewhere have developed a new way to predict when vegetation dries to the point it is most vulnerable to large-scale fires in the Santa Monica Mountains near Los Angeles. And this years forecast says the highest-risk fire period will begin July 13 weeks earlier than usual.
Researchers Announce New Way to Assess How Buildings Would Stand Up in Big Quakes
How much damage will certain steel-frame, earthquake-resistant buildings located in Southern California sustain when a large temblor strikes? It's a complicated, multifaceted question, and researchers from the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Pau, France, have answered it with unprecedented specificity using a new modeling protocol.
Scientists propose the creation of a new type of seed bank
While an international seed bank in a Norwegian island has been gathering news about its agricultural collection, a group of U.S. scientists has just published an article outlining a different kind of seed bank, one that proposes the gathering of wild species at intervals in the future effectively capturing evolution in action.
