Satellite Observation of fires in Indian Oil Depot

March 22, 2010 by pawanpgupta

Authors:

Pawan Gupta, Rahul Ramachandran, and Sundar A. Christopher

Figures:

Legend:

Satellite image showing smoke from Indian Oil fires. Image is taken by NASA’s MODIS onboard EOS Aqua satellite on October 30, 2009 during its pass over India.

Temporal Information:

Fri, 10/30/2009 - 08:15

Data Description:

The original data for this image can be obtained from MODIS data server at LAADS web located at Goddard space flight center http://ladsweb.nascom.nasa.gov/ Current image is taken from MODIS rapid response system http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Background:

India Oil Corporation Depot (IOCD) at the Sitapura Industrial Area near the state capital city of Jaipur caught fire on October 29, 2009 at around 7:30 pm local time. This depot is located about 10 miles south of the Indian pink city Jaipur in the state of Rajasthan. Fire was so massive that the entire area was covered by black smoke clouds for several days. Smoke and haze were visible up to hundreds of miles away from the fire location and affected visibility in dozens of villages and residential area creating panic among the residents. Local hospitals reported hundreds of patients with complaints of sore throat, allergy, irritation and breathing problem. Agricultural fields within 20-30 miles of IOCD location have reported the deposit of black flakes, which could affect the soil fertility. The Meteorology department recorded a quake measuring 2.3 on the Richter scale at the time of first explosion, which caused shattering of glass window nearly 3 km from the IOCD location. This image is taken by NASA’s MODIS onboard EOS Aqua satellite on October 30, 2009 during its pass over India. Original data for the image is taken from NASA’s MODIS Rapid Fire System and processed at University of Alabama in Huntsville, AL.

Relevance:

Emissions from fires puts large amount of aerosols (particulate matter) in the atmosphere every year around the world. Often fires are associated with vegetation burning in different part of the world. Emissions of toxic pollutant such as sulphur and nitric dioxide are cause of the concern from oil fire as they can directly affect human health as well presents environmental challenges. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectoradiometer (MODIS) onboard NASA’s EOS Terra satellite observed the event in 36 different spectral channels. The image in this article is a true color image from three visible channels (red, green and blue) of MODIS, which shows a very clear view of the smoke from fires. Satellite observations of this specific event show the potential of current satellites to monitor even small scale fires from space. These satellite images can easily be used to track the direction and intensity of smoke emitted from fires for environmental monitoring. MODIS image (left) here shows area over India with cloud belt diagonally extending from southwest to northeast, haze in the Indo-Gangetic plain, and thin layer of smoke plume on top of the image (inside red circle). Image on the right shows dark black colored smoke coming out of the oil fires extending from north to south in high resolution. Continuous satellite monitoring of such events should help forecasting and emergency service to prepare.

Reference:

http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/

http://aerosols.blogspot.com/2009/10/satellite-observation-of-fires-in.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8333211.stm

Citation:

Satellite Observation of fires in Indian Oil Depot, Pawan Gupta, Rahul Ramachandran, and Sundar A. Christopher, Journal of Earth Science Phenomena, 2010, 22.

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