No, this image of burning Australia is not a satellite photo – science

An impressive image of Australia in flames has been shared several times. It is not a photo taken by satellite. It also does not show the fires currently active in the country. Where is she from ?

A snapshot is shared on social networks several times this Monday, January 6, 2020. In several tweet, for example here or the, it is presented as a “satellite image” of Australia, visibly in flames. However, this image that has gone viral is not a photo obtained by satellite: it is a three-dimensional visualization.

The original image was published by Anthony Hearsey, a photography specialist who works in Brisbane. On January 4, he wrote a publication on his Facebook account, in order to recall the context in which he disseminated this visualization, created from data provided by NASA.

Where exactly does this data come from?

This image was created using data from FIRMS, which stands for “NASA’s Fire Information for Ressource Management System”. The space agency provides data on current fires in near real time. The data is distributed within 3 hours, compared to the observations made using MODIS (“Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer”) and VIIRS (“Visible Infrared Imaginf Radiometer Suite), instruments on board satellites.

The data used to design this image were taken between December 5, 2019 and January 5, 2020. ” These are all areas that have been affected by bush fires Says Anthony Hearsey on Facebook. He assures that the image is faithful to this information, although the scale is ” a little exaggerated “.

Not a representation of current fires

What is therefore important to understand is that this visualization does not pretend to show all the areas where fires are currently in progress. The image is an attempt to compile a set of lights that have been identified in NASA data since December 5, for a month.

The wildfires that occur in Australia are the subject ofsignificant media coverage. The dissemination of images without context on social networks reminds us that we must take information with caution, even if the tragedy that the country, its inhabitants and its ecosystem is going through is not in question.