Las Conchas Fire Map

Fire
Earth Observatory's view of the Las Conchas Fire from space.
Fireworks exploding in the night sky would be an example of instaneous oxidation. The apple browning is slow oxidation, fire is rapid oxidation and explosions are instaneous oxidation.
The white apple flesh is turning brown as it is exposed to oxygen in the atmosphere. This is an example of slow oxidation and fire is rapid oxidation. Oxidation occurs when oxygen combines with a substance on a molecular level.
The Eastern half of the Valles Caldera National Preserve was in the path of the Las Conchas Fire and the western half of the preserve was not. Because the Preserve had been monitored before the fire researchers were able to compare the data to see what kind of impacts the fire made.
The image shows the mosaic burn pattern. You will notice that some areas were severly burned and others expereinced low severity burns.
The image shows a succesional forest that ranges from montane grasses to aspens to mixed conifers. Photo courtsey of Bob Parmenter
The Las Conchas fire was extremely hot and in some cases the gases were super-heated and instantly vaporized the vegetation.
In this area the burn was severe and comsumed the forest liter as well as killing all the trees. Photo by Rhonda Spidell
The Rio San Antonio was a meandering creek with deep banks before the Las Conchas fire.