Satellite Imagery: Gatlinburg, Tennessee Wildfire

DigitalGlobe operates the world’s most advanced constellation of commercial imaging satellites, which provide a unique vantage point of the Earth and enable decisions to be made with confidence.

The pre-wildfire imagery was taken on January 17, 2015, by the WorldView-2 satellite in natural color. The post-wildfire imagery was taken on December 1, 2016, by the WorldView-3 satellite using near-infrared (NIR). NIR imagery causes healthy vegetation to appear red and the burn scar from the wildfire to be dark brown. In one of the before and after comparisons, DigitalGlobe zoomed in on Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies, which garnered substantial media attention when employees had to evacuate. Most of the homes in the neighborhood to the north of the aquarium are burned.

Media are welcome to use these images in print, web, and broadcast stories, with written photo credit “Image Courtesy © DigitalGlobe 2016” and verbal credit to DigitalGlobe required for broadcast media.

Images: Aquarium Gatlinburg, TN. taken on 1st December 2016 and Aquarium Gatlinburg, TN. taken on 17th January 2015