IoW fire

Image of the week: Severe wildfires in Chile

 

Wildfires cause huge loss of life in Chile’s Valparaíso region

IoW fire
IoW fire

This week’s image of the week is of the severe forest fires that have recently devastated parts of the populated region of Valparaíso, Chile.

Last Updated

14 February 2024

Published on

07 February 2024

The fires, preceded by prolonged heatwaves, have caused the deaths of more than 100 people and inflicted widespread destruction.

As a result, the Chilean government declared a state of emergency and a period of national mourning.

The fires have occurred as Chile and other parts of South America have been affected by intense heatwaves fuelled by El Niño and exacerbated by climate change.

Wildfires

This image was captured by Copernicus Sentinel-3, a European satellite mission designed to monitor the Earth's oceans, land, ice, and atmosphere. 
 

The Sentinel-3A and -3B satellites are in a near polar, sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 815 kilometres.


EUMETSAT operates the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellites, in cooperation with ESA, and delivers the marine data on behalf of the European Union.

More information

Images of the devastation caused by the wildfires 

 

WMO News

Copernicus emergency management situational report 

 

UN report on the increasing threat of wildfires around the globe due to climate change and land use change 
 

Visualise Sentinel-3 data with EUMETview or WEkEO.

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