The tire fire in Watertown is still burning...while UW researchers use satellite imagery to measure its effects...
NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the area just hours after the fire started Tuesday, capturing images of the massive smoke plume caused by the fire.
The images were captured by MODIS, one of several sensors on the Aqua satellite, which provides daily coverage of large areas.
02:03.55–06Dr. Thomas Lillesand, Director of the University of Wisconsin Department of Environmental Studies, says "It's certainly something that will provide the imagery and the tools for those people that are knowledgeable about atmospheric chemistry and air transport and so forth, to model what the impact is of this event."
The images captured by MODIS will be passed on to specialists for analysis before the total effect on the atmosphere can be identified.
The smoke plume covered 637 square miles, including 290 miles over Lake Michigan.
