Share icon
Published

Fires started to burn in early March in the protected regions of Sierra del Lacandón National Park (also Laguna del Tigre), which is located in the tropical rain forest in the north west of Guatemala.  

Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) data are being used to locate fire lines that are difficult to see from the ground, and these data are also being used to analyze long term fire trends.  One Guatemalan weekly report highlighted the improved value of VIIRS data to locate small fires and the valuable long–term prospective offered by MODIS.

Image showing smoke streaming from wildfires in Guatemala
Aqua true-color image overlaid with active-fire detections, shown in red, taken from MODIS (onboard Terra and Aqua) and VIIRS (onboard Suomi-NPP), showing smoke streaming from wildfires in Guatemala on April 1st 2017.
Image showing smoke streaming from wildfires in Guatemala
Aqua true-color image overlaid with active-fire detections, shown in red, taken from MODIS (onboard Terra and Aqua) and VIIRS (onboard Suomi-NPP), showing smoke streaming from wildfires in Guatemala on April 3rd 2017.

 

Image showing active-fire detections
Aqua true-color image overlaid with active-fire detections, shown in red, taken from MODIS (onboard Terra and Aqua) and VIIRS (onboard Suomi-NPP), showing smoke streaming from wildfires in Guatemala on April 9th 2017.
674

Related Impact

Story
Driving Humanitarian Innovation and Action with Earth Science
By:
Laura Guzmán, NASA Lifelines
Fast-flowing river with muddy waters surges through Melamchi, Nepal, flanked by colorful houses and lush green hills under a cloudy sky.
Story
Helping Nepal Prepare for Monsoons with NASA and USAID’s SERVIR Program
By:
Meryl Kruskopf
Biplov Bhandari
Chinmay Deval
Manish Shrestha
Disaster coordinators from CEPREDENAC using NASA data to analyze impacts from Hurricane Iota in Nov. 2021. Credit: CEPREDENAC
News
NASA Announces New Disaster Response Coordination System
By:
Jacob Reed, NASA Disasters
Related Disaster Activations

Guatemala Wildfires 2017

Disaster Type
Fires

Connect with the Applied Sciences Program

With help from NASA’s Earth-observing satellites, our community is making a difference on our home planet. Find out how by staying up-to-date on their latest projects and discoveries.

Stay Connected