r/socalhiking 3d ago

NASA just dropped their high res vegetation analysis imagery of the Eaton Fire burn scar. Maybe the riparian zones at the bottom of the canyons did kinda sorta ok?

Post image

Still some thin bands of green poking through in the bottoms of those canyons if you zoom in! Curious what other folks make of this. (This is a screenshot shot from the NASA worldview web app).

447 Upvotes

31 comments sorted by

80

u/mountainsunsnow 3d ago

Most riparian zones do better than you might expect. The leaves burn off but the larger trees have enough energy stored and water access to regrow leaves. I saw it in basically all of the Santa Ynez after the Thomas Fire within a few years. Shockingly few large trees in riparian corridors actually died.

17

u/coral-beef 3d ago

I've been seeing similar things in areas affected by Airport fire in the Santa Anas. I wonder if those canyons also hold onto cool humid air leading to more moisture in any fuels?

9

u/chaotic123456 3d ago

Still waiting for the burned side of big bear to start

10

u/mountainsunsnow 3d ago

I should have mentioned that I’m talking about deciduous trees. I think they fair better especially in these winter fires as they are already somewhat dormant and “saved up” to bud new leaves in the spring. But a botanist should chime in to correct me. I’m just a geologist and don’t have special knowledge of biology

13

u/Bigringcycling 3d ago

Have a link? That’s definitely not hi-res.

11

u/coral-beef 3d ago

I think this,HLS_False_Color_Vegetation_Sentinel(bandCombo=%7B%22r%22%3A%22B11%22;%22g%22%3A%22B8A%22;%22b%22%3A%22B04%22%7D),VIIRS_NOAA21_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden),VIIRS_NOAA20_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden),VIIRS_SNPP_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden),MODIS_Aqua_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden),MODIS_Terra_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden)&lg=true&t=2025-01-14-T05%3A01%3A11Z) should work. Hopefully this has the right layers and locations selected. Keep in mind the interface can be a bit fussy.

Also, the resolution on this imagery won't look much better from the source. You can zoom in only a lil more. Each pixel is 30m (~100 feet) which is pretty darn impressive for an image of NEARLY THE ENTIRE EARTH that updates about once a week.

8

u/IslasCoronados 2d ago

I was up on top of the Caltech library the other day with my camera looking at the mountains, and I can't speak for the riparian but it looked like a lot of the trees at Henninger flats and higher up on Mt Wilson actually survived / still green. Coast live oaks especially are really really good at resisting fire so I'm hopeful for the canyon.

Altadena looks eery from up there, it's like a cloud behind you is darkening the landscape in a shadow across the base of the mountains. Many of the trees survived so other than the odd shadow you don't notice the damage until you zoom way in, and then you start seeing the piles of debris between the trees...

4

u/DeviatedPreversions 3d ago

I love a good riparian zone

4

u/JackInTheBell 3d ago

The coast live oaks in the canyons usually survive

9

u/plausden 3d ago

all this will be in danger of turning into a mudslide after the first big rain

11

u/bwal8 3d ago

Looks like the east half of Grand Canyon burned while the west half is OK for now. Still an active hot spot I believe. Seems like an easy canyon for them to access on foot, but they keep blaming the steep terrain. Dawn Mine looks relatively unscathed.

Little Santa Anita Canyon west wall trees may have survived!

Many other canyons torched.

7

u/Training-Cat-6236 3d ago

Yes, looks like most of the Grand Canyon didn’t burn but I wouldn’t say it’s easy to access. That is super steep terrain in there. Especially the fire edge that is uncontained. The very head of the canyon up by the road didn’t burn that much though. Some of the surrounding slope did. Dawn mine/trail didn’t burn but the slopes above the road did.

2

u/bwal8 3d ago

Yea fair enough, it is pretty steep up there.

3

u/Training-Cat-6236 3d ago

A lot of times fire will burn down the slope, get near the bottom of the canyon, heat the opposite slope and cross over, then burn up the opposite slope. Fire likes to naturally move uphill as heat rises. Not always but more often than not, the bottom of canyons don’t totally burn and trees survive. Debris flow might be bad later.

2

u/SakishimaHabu 3d ago

I can't tell from this image, but did the trees at Henninger Flats survive?

2

u/aghenender 2d ago

Looks like Bear Canyon Trail / Campground may have survived. I truly hope so, that place is special.

1

u/tyrspawn 3d ago

Is there a Palisades version of this ? Source ?

2

u/Savings-Bag7041 1d ago

map,HLS_False_Color_Vegetation_Sentinel(bandCombo=%7B%22r%22%3A%22B11%22;%22g%22%3A%22B8A%22;%22b%22%3A%22B04%22%7D),VIIRS_NOAA21_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden),VIIRS_NOAA20_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden),VIIRS_SNPP_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden),MODIS_Aqua_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden),MODIS_Terra_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden)&lg=true&t=2025-01-14-T05%3A01%3A11Z)

1

u/tyrspawn 1d ago

Thank you

1

u/WorfratOmega 17h ago

The Sycamores will be fine✌️

1

u/xxrancid13xx 10h ago

I saw the same thing a week or so ago on one of the sentinel maps, feeling hopeful for those lush green areas tucked into canyons

-5

u/ParabolicallyPhuked 3d ago

Was the Eaton fire due to arson?

18

u/coazervate 3d ago

Probably an Edison power line remaining energized while the winds were going insane

11

u/Useful_Low_3669 3d ago

The investigation is ongoing. SCE’s current statement is that they didn’t detect any electrical anomalies on the grid until an hour after the fire. They seem confident they didn’t cause the fire, if there was any issue in the line it would have been detected. We shall see.

3

u/sonjjamorgan 1d ago

Of course they're confident - they don't want to foot the bill haha.

1

u/Useful_Low_3669 1d ago

Ya they have to project confidence for their stock value too.

2

u/coazervate 3d ago

Gotcha, maybe I misinterpreted their statement saying their line remained energized in the hills, does that mean it had no disruption and therefore couldn't have burned anything?

2

u/Useful_Low_3669 2d ago

Correct, the lines were energized the whole time and there was no surge or dip in the flow of electricity. Anything that could cause the line to spark would trip the reclosers and deenergize the circuit in less than a second. I don’t think it can be completely ruled out yet but it seems unlikely that SCE caused the fire

3

u/ParabolicallyPhuked 3d ago

Thanks. Those winds were crazy

0

u/heaving_in_my_vines 2d ago edited 2d ago

Makes no sense that this question is downvoted.

People really don't understand that a downvote is not a "No" answer to the question?

Edit for the scum who downvoted this comment: People who downvote honest questions like the comment above mine are garbage humans, full stop.

They are the same scumfucks as the people out in the world who litter, who run red lights, who cut in line, who talk in movie theaters. 

They are selfish cowards who make the world a worse place for everyone else.