Science Visualized Earth

Color-coded radar maps reveal a patchwork of California wildfire destruction

Research flights over the Los Angeles area tell a story of plant loss and regrowth

vegetation maps of California regions affected by wildfires

JPL researchers stacked vegetation maps from 2010 (red), 2017 (green) and 2020 (blue) atop each other, revealing how wildfires dramatically altered the landscape in Southern California.

Joshua Stevens/NASA Earth Observatory

By Jack J. Lee

- More than 2 years ago

Each year in California, thousands of wildfires ravage hundreds of thousands of hectares of land.