Two wildfires merged to form a massive ‘megafire’ in Australia

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, parts of the blaze extended into the neighboring state of Victoria. The “megafire” formed from the merger of the East Ournie Creek fire and the Dunns Road fire, which came together at the Clarkes Hill Nature Reserve on the border of New South Wales and Victoria.

“What we’re really seeing with a number of these fires merging is a number of small fires started by lightning strikes across the landscape. And as they grow, we see fires merging,” New South Wales Rural Fire Service spokesperson Anthony Clark said.

In January 9, 2020, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 acquired natural-color observations of burned land and thick smoke covering Australia’s Kangaroo Island.

NASA/Lauren Dauphin

This is not the first megafire Australia has seen this fire season. In October, lightning sparked the Gospers Mountain megafire in Wollemi National Park north of Sydney. While under control, that fire is still burning, having consumed 1,977 square miles (5,120 square kilometers) as of today.

The new megafire was fanned by strong winds throughout the night, with lightning strikes sparking new blazes. One man was severely burned trying to protect his property near Tumbarumba in southern New South Wales and was airlifted to a Sydney hospital in serious condition to undergo surgery, according to CTV News Canada.

Smoke from the blazes has blanketed cities in Australia and affected New Zealand, as well as reaching some parts of South America

SAEED KHAN, AFP/File

Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp confirmed that a firefighter has died while trying to contain a fire in Omeo in Victoria’s north-east on Saturday.

Australia’s fire season seen from space
Australia’s fire season usually peaks in January, according to Live Science, but blazes started burning intensely and early in 2019. The intensity of this year’s fires has been driven by record high temperatures, long-term drought, and low moisture levels in the soil and air, say climate scientists.

The fires have claimed at least 26 lives and destroyed more than 2,000 homes across Australia

Saeed KHAN, AFP

These variations are likely to become more common as the climate warms, climate scientists reported in the journal Nature in 2014.

NASA, the European Space Agency and other agencies have been tracking Australia’s bushfires from space using satellites. The images are astounding and show the intensity of the fires and the distance the smoke from those fires can travel.

Image created using data from the CALIPSO team, and VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS/LANCE and GIBS/Worldview and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership.

NASA Earth Observatory/Joshua Stevens

“NASA is currently tracking the movement of smoke from the Australian fires using several sensors,” said Colin Seftor, a scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. “The smoke had a dramatic impact on New Zealand, causing severe air quality issues across the county and visibly darkening mountaintop snow. Beyond New Zealand, the smoke has now travelled more than halfway around the Earth, crossing South America, turning the skies hazy, and causing colorful sunrises and sunsets. It is expected to make at least one full circuit, returning once again to the skies over Australia.”

Watch these #firefighters stop to give a thirsty koala water while fighting brushfires

Australia #AustralianFires AustraliaBurns AUSTRALIANBUSHFIRES pic.twitter.com/086yxlQaTo

— Tomthunkit™ (@TomthunkitsMind) January 11, 2020