NASA recently showed how the destruction of the bushfires in New South Wales, Australia looks from space through a satellite image. According to local authorities, the current conditions of the bushfires are expected to worsen due to increasing temperatures in the region.
The image was captured by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP), a satellite that is jointly operated by NASA and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The objective of the satellite is to take climate measurements of Earth from space.
Satellite Image From NOAA And NASA
In the image released by NASA, several active fires marked in red can be seen in different parts of New South Wales. These active bushfires have created a thick blanket of smoke over certain areas in Australia including Sydney.
According to the country's local authorities, they have detected over 90 active fires in New South Wales. They also noted that the area affected by the ongoing natural disaster is already as big as the state of Connecticut in the U.S.
"The New South Wales Rural Fire Service is reporting 96 fires are burning and to date the size of the area burned is 1.5 times the size of the state of Connecticut (approximately 5.3 million acres of land)," NASA said in a press release. "These fires are largely the result of an atypical drought for the area, increasing temperatures, and low humidity."
Worsening Condition Of Australia
Current reports indicate that the raging bushfires have already damaged thousands of structures in New South Wales. According to a tally presented by The Guardian, about 49 facilities, 724 homes and over 1,500 outbuildings have already been ravaged by the fires. At the time of writing this, six individuals have already died.
Unfortunately for the residents of Australia, the ongoing bushfires are expected to worsen within the next couple of weeks. According to NASA, the temperature within the country is currently increasing due to wide-scale heatwaves. These factors contribute in drying out vegetation, making them more susceptible to catching fire.
