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NASA photo strikingly captures devastation of Gyeongsang wildfires

Published: 09 Apr. 2025, 18:33

A top-down view of the Gyeongsang region on April 4, caught by the satellite Landsat 9. [NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION]

A U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) picture showed the devastating aftermath of last month's massive wildfires that broke out in North Gyeongsang last month, with a horizontal brown scar stretching across the southeastern region of the peninsula in a satellite image released Tuesday.

The image, captured on Friday by NASA’s high-resolution Earth observation satellite Landsat 9, uses a combination of visible and shortwave infrared bands to distinguish between burned areas and unburned vegetation.

NASA previously released another satellite image on March 22, a day after the wildfire broke out in Uiseong, showing a large smoke plume near Andong. Based on data from fire and thermal anomaly detections, the agency confirmed the fire had spread to the East Sea coast by March 25.

"Light rain moved over the area and helped officials contain the blaze by March 28," said NASA. "Smoke and clouds ultimately cleared, allowing Landsat 9 to observe a burned area stretching more than 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the coastline."

The scale of the wildfire can also be inferred from estimated greenhouse gas emissions. On Tuesday, the National Institute of Forest Science estimated that the wildfires that burned between March 21 and 30 in the Gyeongsang region released approximately 3.66 million tons of greenhouse gases.

A satellite image of the wildfires in the Gyeongsang region, released by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration on March 22 [NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION]

Based on the affected area of 48,239 hectares (119,201 acres), the agency estimated emissions of 3.245 million tons of carbon dioxide, 272,000 tons of methane and 143,000 tons of nitrous oxide, released primarily from the combustion of tree leaves and branches.

The amount accounts for about 9.2 percent of the annual net greenhouse gas absorption by Korea’s forests, which stands at 39.87 million tons. It is equivalent to 34.36 million mid-sized cars driving round-trip between Seoul and Busan.

The Korea Forest Service plans to release a detailed report on the actual area and volume of forest damage on Monday, following the completion of ongoing on-site inspections. While the actual damage area often turns out to be smaller than the initially announced, in some cases, the final assessment reveals greater damage.

“If the actual area and volume of burned forest turn out to be larger than expected, the estimated greenhouse gas emissions could also increase,” said an official from the National Institute of Forest Science.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.

BY JEONG EUN-HYE [[email protected]]