--- title: DigitalGlobe Images Offer Unprecedented View of Forest Fire description: State-of-the-art imaging technology on board DigitalGlobe's recently launched WorldView-3 satellite offers unprecedented views of world events. canonical: https://time.com/3265203/digitalglobe-forest-fire/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-03T20:50:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:03:05.563Z article:section: Science og:title: New Ultra High-Def Satellite Shows Mind-Blowing View of a Forest Fire og:description: The new technology can penetrate thick clouds of smoke to reveal clear images og:url: https://time.com/3265203/digitalglobe-forest-fire/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a078adb6ac2de7f/6986a1e1810bbbb495c9340d/happy-camp-fire-digitalglobe-worldview31.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: A forest fire at the Happy Camp complex in California’s Klamath National Forest imaged with (left) and without (right) SWIR, in Aug. 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: New Ultra High-Def Satellite Shows Mind-Blowing View of a Forest Fire twitter:description: The new technology can penetrate thick clouds of smoke to reveal clear images twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a078adb6ac2de7f/6986a1e1810bbbb495c9340d/happy-camp-fire-digitalglobe-worldview31.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # New Ultra High-Def Satellite Shows Mind-Blowing View of a Forest Fire by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Sep 3, 2014 8:50 PM UTC  A forest fire at the Happy Camp complex in California’s Klamath National Forest imaged with (left) and without (right) SWIR, in Aug. 2014. A forest fire at the Happy Camp complex in California’s Klamath National Forest imaged with (left) and without (right) SWIR, in Aug. 2014.Courtesy of DigitalGlobe by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Sep 3, 2014 8:50 PM UTC State-of-the-art imaging technology on board DigitalGlobe’s recently launched WorldView-3 satellite offers unprecedented views of world events. The technology, known as Shortwave Infrared Imagery, or SWIR, can penetrate thick clouds of smoke, as shown in the above image of a forest fire. The photo reveals a clear image of an August fire at the Happy Camp complex in California’s Klamath National Forest. Previous images of the event were covered in a dense cloud of smoke. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3265203/digitalglobe-forest-fire/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3265203/digitalglobe-forest-fire/"},"headline":"New Ultra High-Def Satellite Shows Mind-Blowing View of a Forest Fire","datePublished":"2014-09-03T20:50:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:03:05.563Z","description":"The new technology can penetrate thick clouds of smoke to reveal clear images","url":"https://time.com/3265203/digitalglobe-forest-fire/","keywords":["weather","Tech","Environment","Technology","fire","images"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a078adb6ac2de7f/6986a1e1810bbbb495c9340d/happy-camp-fire-digitalglobe-worldview31.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a078adb6ac2de7f/6986a1e1810bbbb495c9340d/happy-camp-fire-digitalglobe-worldview31.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A forest fire at the Happy Camp complex in California’s Klamath National Forest imaged with (left) and without (right) SWIR, in Aug. 2014.","caption":"A forest fire at the Happy Camp complex in California’s Klamath National Forest imaged with (left) and without (right) SWIR, in Aug. 2014.","creditText":"Courtesy of DigitalGlobe","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/weather/","name":"weather"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3265203/digitalglobe-forest-fire/","name":"New Ultra High-Def Satellite Shows Mind-Blowing View of a Forest Fire"}}]}] ```