Branner Blog

Wondering about why the air is so thick? Yesterday we speculated that the smoke and haze were coming from the wildfire down in Henry Coe State Park, but the image above tells the true tale. You can see the smoke emanating from the northeastern part of the state in Plumas National Forest. To really appreciate why a fire so far away is making our eyes itch in Palo Alto, check out the movement of the smoke in the 1km animation for the Western US [via NOAA].

More information from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection here. Another site called Inciweb describes the situation as follows:

The Moonlight Fire has grown to 18,500 acres. The fire is located in the Northeastern Sierra Nevada, along the boundary between Plumas and Lassen counties, predominately on the Plumas National Forest. Containment is 5%.

Fueled by winds from the north, the fire moved south today triggering mandatory and voluntary evacuations.

You can subscribe to feeds from either of the sites above to get the latest news about this fire and California wildfires in general.

As the people of central Peru continue to struggle with the after effects (and aftershocks) of this week’s 8.0 earthquake, information is being posted online to keep up with events.

The US Geological Survey has created a number of maps showing the location, intensity, density, and historical quakes in the area. The shake map shown above locates the epicenter of the quake off the coast of Chincha Alta.

The Perry-Castenada Map Collections has posted a number of maps of Peru that are helpful in locating place names mentioned in the news.

CNN.com has created a Hot Topics page on earthquakes. Included are news accounts, videos, and pictures of the Peruvian earthquake as well as others. This page allows you to set up an RSS feed in order to remain current about recent events.

A map librarian colleague from the University of Buffalo has kindly allowed me to post this timely and informative message.

Subject: Western US Forest Fires Maps and Imagery

Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 10:23:44 -0400

From: David J. Bertuca <dbertuca@buffalo.edu>

To: Maps List <MAPS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>

The Western US is burning in many states. Dryness, winds, and other factors are making 2007 a bad year for fire detection and prevention. We have had questions on this and the following may be helpful for locating maps, satellite imagery, and data. (this is a selected list only). Some of the sites listed include maps for Canada and Mexico as well. Note too, that these sites provide useful map tools for non-fire related topics.

National Interagency Fire Center

<http://www.nifc.gov/fire_info/nfn.htm>
The following USDA Forest Service site provides a lot of data on the fires:
MODIS Active Fire Mapping Program

<http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/>
Select “Imagery” from top menu tab. You can view the latest (usually 1 day behind at most) images of particular states/regions, or you can select other dates and see the progress of fires/fire control. To the right of the thumbnail, select image type (true color are “real” color views).
ALSO on this page are maps and a GIS providing current status of fires.

Select tab “ArcIMS Maps” and you can use the GIS to see fires in relation to the surrounding terrain and infrastructure. This uses ESRI software and for those who have worked with the interface before, it is easy to navigate and find specific locations. For those wishing to just see a map of an area with the latest fire activity, select “Regional Maps”

<http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/activefiremaps.php>
and select an area. A map will be displayed and you can further select to see that area for current fire detections/activity. Additional maps and data are available at the home site to this page:
Remote Sensing Applications Center

<http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/rsac/index.html>
Also take a look at the NIFC links page:
National Fire Maps

<http://www.nifc.gov/fire_info/maps.htm>
News and other Gov sites with images/maps:
<http://abcnews.go.com/US/popup?id=3358368>
MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) NASA imagery page:

<http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2007-06-29>
choose images from right column (various res)
NOAA National Fire Weather Page for current reports:

<http://fire.boi.noaa.gov/>
and Natural Resources Canada has a site that provides current situations from its National Forest Fire Situation Report

<http://fire.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/report/firereport_e.php>
see also their Forest Fire Hotspots 2007 page:

<http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/environment/forestfires/hotspots2007/1>
These include fire, drought, and related weather data and maps. I hope this will prove useful to you in assisting others to find what they are looking for.

David J. Bertuca, Map Librarian

225 Capen Hall

University at Buffalo

Buffalo, NY 14260-1672
716-645-2947 x229

dbertuca@buffalo.edu

With the G-8 leaders assembling in Europe this week, global warming is a likely topic of conversation. One hopes they are aware of this informative map, which graphically compares the leading emitters of carbon dioxide.

Street view, the latest feature on google maps, is, in a word, phenomenal. To check it out, put in an address, click on the new “street view” button, and if the street is highlighted in blue, you’ll be able to see a street-level view. You can use the “man on the street” to navigate around, or the arrows and zoom options within the image itself.

The view from our very own Palm Drive is quite nice as always.

Edited to include one of my critiques of the new feature, this one from NYT. I’ll let you do your own research if you care to follow the buzz regarding the more provocative views from the Farm.