GOES-13 0.63 µm visible channel (top) and 3.9 µm shortwave IR channel (bottom) images (click image to play animation)
A large fire was burning in southeastern Quebec (centered near 51.6 N latitude, 66.2 W longitude) on 22 June 2012. A comparison of 1-km resolution GOES-13 0.63 µm visible channel and 4-km resolution 3.9 µm shortwave IR channel images (above; click image to play animation) showed the development of a very large smoke plume, as the footprint of the fire “hot spot” (dark black to red pixels) grew during the day.
A comparison of 1-km resolution Suomi NPP VIIRS 0.64 µm visible channel, 11.45 µm IR channel, 3.74 µm shortwave IR channel, and 0.7 µm Day/Night Band images at 17:09 UTC (below) showed that the coldest cloud-top IR brightness etmperatures at that time were -27.5 C (darker blue color enhancement).
Suomi NPP VIIRS visible, 11.45 µm IR, 3.74 µm shortwave IR, and 0.7 µm Day/Night Band images
A sequence of 1-km resolution VIIRS, MODIS, and AVHRR shortwave IR images (below) showed that the size of the footprint of the fire “hot spot” grew dramatically during the period from 00:06 on 22 June to 21:09 UTC on 23 June.
VIIRS, MODIS, and AVHRR shortwave IR images