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   AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Thursday, 09-Jan-2025 02:39:26 JST AkaSci 🛰️

   Wildfire map of LA area from NASA FIRMS.

   NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) distributes Near Real-Time active fire data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua and Terra satellites, and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) aboard S-NPP, NOAA 20 and NOAA 21.

   JPL is closed except for emergency personnel. No fire damage so far but it is very close to the lab.

   https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#m:advanced;d:today;l:fires_landsat_landsat,fires_modis_aqua,fires_modis_terra,fires_viirs_noaa20,fires_viirs_noaa21,fires_viirs_snpp,countries,earth;@-118.08,33.96,10.53z
   https://nasawatch.com/personnel-news/jpl-fire-update/
   1/n

   • Embed this notice
     AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Thursday, 09-Jan-2025 21:10:18 JST AkaSci 🛰️

     in reply to

     This article from 2021 about prison inmates, incl teenagers, used as firefighters will make your blood boil.

     "The inexpensive labor of incarcerated firefighters is a critical part of CA’s plan to get through wildfire season, which has become, as a symptom of the climate crisis, an almost year-round concern.

     Roughly 27% of the state’s firefighters were incarcerated in 2018 and 2019, earning mere dollars a day while free firefighters make an average $41.76 an hour."
     😠
     https://www.teenvogue.com/story/wildfire-camp-incarcerated-teens
     8/n

     Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Thursday, 09-Jan-2025 21:10:18 JST AkaSci 🛰️

     in reply to

     Here is a devastating before-and-after satellite image from Maxar Technologies of a few blocks in Altaneda in visible light.

     Now let's imagine what it looks and feels like at street level.
     Imagine households with young children, infants, the elderly, the disabled.
     Houses full of memories.

     These are horrific tragedies, made all the worse by Climate Change and an unholy union of billionaires and a political party that seem hell bent on making this worse.

     https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-08/shocking-before-and-after-satellite-images-show-destruction-of-malibu-and-altadena-neighborhoods
     9/n

   • Embed this notice
     AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Thursday, 09-Jan-2025 21:10:19 JST AkaSci 🛰️

     in reply to

     I hate posting videos of disasters. But I think people need to glimpse these to get a sense of the destruction and the human toll caused by these disasters, even though we may not have personally experienced them (yet). And the fact that these situations will only get worse unless we stop the billionaire class and the far-right from ravaging our dear earth.

     This is CNN's Anderson Cooper reporting on the horrific scenes in the Altadena neighborhood east of JPL.

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L45PLpkfvgM
     6/n

     Mr. Bill and Minoru Saba repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Thursday, 09-Jan-2025 21:10:19 JST AkaSci 🛰️

     in reply to

     This is a mind-numbing satellite image from Maxar Technologies of the wildfire in Altadena, posted at CNN.

     The hi-res composite image was taken at 10:45 a.m. PT by one of their LEO satellites and uses a mix of shortwave infrared and visible wavelengths. It shows nearly every building in western Altadena on fire 😢.

     JPL is just to the west of the NW quadrant of this image.
     
     https://www.cnn.com/weather/live-news/los-angeles-pacific-palisades-eaton-wildfires-01-08-25/index.html
     #Wildfire #Altadena #JPL
     7/n

   • Embed this notice
     AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Thursday, 09-Jan-2025 21:10:20 JST AkaSci 🛰️

     in reply to

     The Wildland Fire Potential Index (WFPI) from the USGS forecasts the risk for large fire activity across the U.S.

     It is a unit-less number that ranges from 0 to 150 and relates to vegetation flammability. It describes the ratio of live to dead fuel and includes variables for wind speed, dry bulb temperature, and rainfall.

     The wildfires in the L.A. area are not unexpected. The WFPI values around L.A. are mostly in the red zone. The Santa Ana winds spread the fire.

     https://firedanger.cr.usgs.gov/viewer/index.html
     4/n

   • Embed this notice
     AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Thursday, 09-Jan-2025 21:10:20 JST AkaSci 🛰️

     in reply to

     The wildfire situation around JPL looks very dire. This is a map of the wildfire in the area over the past 12 hours from the NASA FIRMS system. Note that there are a lot of residential areas underneath that red blob.

     We are certainly not prepared for natural disasters like this. We will be even less so after the new fossil-fueled, ravenous billionaire infused, sociopathic administration takes over.

     https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#m:advanced;d:2025-01-08%2014:10..2025-01-09%2002:10;l:fires_landsat_landsat,fires_modis_aqua,fires_modis_terra,fires_viirs_noaa20,fires_viirs_noaa21,fires_viirs_snpp,countries,earth;@-118.13,34.20,12.98z
     5/n

   • Embed this notice
     AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Thursday, 09-Jan-2025 21:10:21 JST AkaSci 🛰️

     in reply to

     Some NASA services hosted at JPL are now offline or nonoperational.
     E.g. - DSN now and JPL Horizons.

     The DSN Goldstone site in Barstow is probably OK.

     The update from JPL at https://nasawatch.com/personnel-news/jpl-fire-update/ also stated that "Hundreds of JPLers have been evacuated from their homes & many have lost homes. Special thx to our emergency crews. Pls keep us in your thoughts & stay safe."
     🙏

     Pic below is from the Altadena area just east of JPL.
     Credit: Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images
     #Wildfire #JPL
     2/n

   • Embed this notice
     AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Thursday, 09-Jan-2025 21:10:21 JST AkaSci 🛰️

     in reply to

     The JPL Emergency Page at https://emergency.jpl.nasa.gov/ has additional info -

     - JPL will remain closed until Monday, Jan 13
     - All personnel are under mandatory telework with no Lab access except for designated personnel
     - JPL facilities, labs and hardware are secured and protected.
     - Deep Space Network (DSN) operations have been moved offsite to a back-up operations center.

     3/n

   • Embed this notice
     Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD (ericfielding@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 16-Jan-2025 00:47:33 JST Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD

     in reply to

     • Judy Schmidt

     @AkaSci @spacegeck Yes, I have seen a Maxar very-high-resolution satellite image acquired on Jan. 10 in several viewers.

   • Embed this notice
     AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Thursday, 16-Jan-2025 00:47:34 JST AkaSci 🛰️

     in reply to

     • Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD
     • Judy Schmidt

     @spacegeck @EricFielding
     Here is some additional zoomable hi-res imagery of the fire-affected areas in LA from the National Geodetic Survey.

     Can't tell which satellites and other assets they use to generate these maps.

     Actually they do mention MAXAR at the right bottom corner of the map.

     https://storms.ngs.noaa.gov/storms/2025_eri/index.html#19.79/34.0339501/-118.4588395

   • Embed this notice
     Judy Schmidt (spacegeck@astrodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 16-Jan-2025 00:47:35 JST Judy Schmidt

     in reply to

     @AkaSci seriously can't get over the resolution of this IR data. you could see if someone's backyard BBQ was going

     Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Judy Schmidt (spacegeck@astrodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 16-Jan-2025 00:47:36 JST Judy Schmidt

     in reply to

     @AkaSci god

     also

     dat satellite tech

   • Embed this notice
     Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD (ericfielding@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 16-Jan-2025 01:10:32 JST Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD

     in reply to

     • Judy Schmidt

     @AkaSci @spacegeck Thanks for the link to the NOAA viewer, it is much more informative with the streets labeled and other annotation. The Maxar images I saw before were hard to navigate. The data may be the same, but the NOAA viewer is much better.

   • Embed this notice
     AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Thursday, 16-Jan-2025 01:26:08 JST AkaSci 🛰️

     in reply to

     • Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD
     • Judy Schmidt

     @EricFielding @spacegeck
     We can see how close to JPL the fires got. Most houses east of Lincoln Ave in the map look burned.
     https://storms.ngs.noaa.gov/storms/2025_eri/index.html#15.41/34.198076/-118.163023

   • Embed this notice
     Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD (ericfielding@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 16-Jan-2025 01:26:08 JST Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD

     in reply to

     • Judy Schmidt

     @AkaSci @spacegeck Yes, I believe the closest house that was completely destroyed was about 400 meters east of the East Gate of JPL (where the bridge crosses the Arroyo Seco river). The building where I work is another 400 meters further west.

   • Embed this notice
     Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD (ericfielding@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 16-Jan-2025 01:38:25 JST Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD

     in reply to

     • Judy Schmidt
     • Marshall Eubanks

     @TMEubanks @AkaSci @spacegeck Yes, the Arroyo Seco is a good firebreak for slowly moving ground fires, but I am not sure it would have stopped the streams of burning embers that were blowing in the wind, if the fire had reached the last line of houses across from JPL.

   • Embed this notice
     Marshall Eubanks (tmeubanks@astrodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 16-Jan-2025 01:38:27 JST Marshall Eubanks

     in reply to

     • Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD
     • Judy Schmidt

     @AkaSci @EricFielding @spacegeck

     That's the Arroyo Seco in between - as the name indicates, it is dry, and a good fire break.

   • Embed this notice
     Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD (ericfielding@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 16-Jan-2025 02:25:14 JST Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD

     in reply to

     • Judy Schmidt
     • Marshall Eubanks

     @AkaSci @TMEubanks @spacegeck Yes, JPL has been hardened against fire in many ways, but we had previously expected the fire to approach from the north through the mountains. A previous fire, the 2009 Station Fire got within 300 meters of JPL northern edge, but there was no wind that day. The winds last week were unusually strong and damaged several buildings at JPL without the fire reaching the campus.

   • Embed this notice
     AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Thursday, 16-Jan-2025 02:25:15 JST AkaSci 🛰️

     in reply to

     • Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD
     • Judy Schmidt
     • Marshall Eubanks

     @TMEubanks @EricFielding @spacegeck
     Glad you did not get to test these features against a real firestorm.

   • Embed this notice
     Marshall Eubanks (tmeubanks@astrodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 16-Jan-2025 02:25:16 JST Marshall Eubanks

     in reply to

     • Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD
     • Judy Schmidt

     @EricFielding @AkaSci @spacegeck Yes, but JPL is also a harder target - few trees, no significant wooden buildings, most flat fire-proof roofs, etc.

   • Embed this notice
     Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD (ericfielding@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 16-Jan-2025 02:33:50 JST Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD

     in reply to

     • Judy Schmidt
     • Marshall Eubanks

     @AkaSci @TMEubanks @spacegeck The area near the East Gate is the oldest part of JPL and includes Building 11 that was built around 1940, long before there were advanced fire-resistant building designs. I am sure it has been upgraded since it was built but I bet it has a wood frame inside.