In Photos: The 2018 California Wildfires as Seen from Space

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California's Wildfires from Space

Oleg Artemyev/Roscosmos via Twitter

Dangerous, deadly and destructive wildfires have churned through California in the summer and fall of 2018. Here are some dramatic views of these blazes from high above as seen by astronauts and cosmonauts in space. In this image: Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev posted four photos of the California wildfires, as seen from the International Space Station, on Twitter on Aug. 7, 2018.

Wildfire Devastation from Space

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA

NASA and European Space Agency satellites have been studying damage caused by the Woolsey Fire and other blazes burning across California in November of 2018.

Camp Fire View from Orbit

NASA/NOAA/Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured this image of smoke billowing off the Camp Fire in Northern California on Nov. 11, 2018.

California Smoke Plumes

NASA/NOAA/Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite spotted two plumes of smoke streaming off California's burning lands on Nov. 9, 2018.

Late-Season Wildfires

NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS/LANCE and GIBS/Worldview 

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer on NASA's Terra satellite captured this natural-color image of California wildfires on Nov. 9, 2018.

The Camp Fire Explained

Satellite image ©2018 DigitalGlobe, a Maxar company.

This annotated DigitalGlobe image overlays location information on a view of the deadly Camp Fire in northern California taken Nov. 9, 2018 by the WorldView-3 satellite.

Active Fires

Satellite image ©2018 DigitalGlobe, a Maxar company.

Active wildfires from the deadly Camp Fire in northern California are visible in this shortwave infrared view from DigitalGlobe's WorldView-3 satellite taken on Nov. 9, 2018.

Vast Smoke Cloud

Satellite image ©2018 DigitalGlobe, a Maxar company.

Thick smoke from California's Camp Fire obscures the Earth's surface as the wildfire burned on Nov. 9, 2018. This image was taken by DigitalGlobe's WorldView-3 satellite.

Camp Fire from Space

NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using Landsat data from USGS

The Operational Land Imager aboard the NASA-USGS Landsat 8 satellite captured this image of California's Camp Fire on Nov. 8, 2018, around 10:45 a.m. local time (1845 GMT).

Cosmonaut's View of California Fires

Oleg Artemyev/Roscosmos via Twitter

"Captured images of the largest #wildfires in #California history. It is truly heart-rending to witness…" Artemyev wrote in his Twitter post.

Cosmonaut's View of California Fires

Oleg Artemyev/Roscosmos via Twitter

The biggest of these fires, the Mendocino Complex, had scorched nearly 300,000 acres (121,400 hectares) as of Aug. 7, 2018. It’s the largest wildfire in California history.

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Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.