Yellowstone's Burn Scars

  • Released Thursday, November 17, 2011
View full credits

A combination of lightning, drought and human activity caused fires to scorch more than one-third of Yellowstone National Park in the summer of 1988. Within a year, burn scars cast a sharp outline on the 793,880 acres affected by fire, distinguishing wide sections of recovering forest, meadows, grasslands and wetlands from unburned areas of the park. After more than two decades, satellite instruments can still detect these scars from space. In the time-lapse video below, a collection of false-color images collected by USGS-NASA Landsat satellites from 1987 to 2011 show the burning and gradual regeneration of Yellowstone following the 1988 fire season. Watch as burn scars (dark red) quickly replace large expanses of healthy green vegetation (dark green) by 1989. Notice how the scars slowly fade over time as new vegetation begins to grow and heal the landscape.

Satellite images show the recovery of Yellowstone National Park following its most intense fire season in history.

Satellite images show the recovery of Yellowstone National Park following its most intense fire season in history.

New burn scars (dark red) created by less severe fires over the years can be seen in addition to the scars left behind by the 1988 fire season.

NASA Landsat project scientist Jeff Masek talks about the recovery of Yellowstone and how Landsat satellites detect its burn scars from space.

This multi-colored animation shows the different fires that ignited, combined and spread throughout Yellowstone from Jun. 30 to Oct. 2, 1988.

Flames and smoke rise above the treetops in Mirror Plateau in Yellowstone during the 1988 fires.

Flames and smoke rise above the treetops in Mirror Plateau in Yellowstone during the 1988 fires.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured this photo of fires burning in Yellowstone National Park on Sep. 24, 2009.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured this photo of fires burning in Yellowstone National Park on Sep. 24, 2009.

For More Information

See NASA.gov

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Image of 1988 Mirror Plateau fire courtesy of Jim Peaco, National Park Service
Image of fires burning in Yellowstone National Park on Sept. 24, 2009 courtesy of Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center.

This page was originally published on Thursday, November 17, 2011.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:53 PM EDT.