Satellite before and after

Jasper wildfire 2024: the burn scar in Jasper National Park

In late July 2024 wildfires in Jasper National Park, in the Canadian Rockies, forced visitors and residents to leave the area.

Jasper National Park and the Jasper townsite, Alberta, Canada · Late July 2024 · Wildfire · Canada

Compare the imagery

Drag the divider, or focus it and use the arrow keys. Left of the divider is 10 Jul 2024, right is 1 Sep 2024, 53 days apart.

The interactive comparison needs JavaScript. Both images are shown below.

In this false-colour view water is dark blue to black, vegetation is bright green, bare ground is tan, freshly burned land is red-brown and cloud is cyan.

The two images

Satellite image of Jasper National Park and the Jasper townsite, Alberta, Canada on 10 Jul 2024, before the event, in false colour (MODIS bands 7-2-1).
Before: Terra, 10 Jul 2024 · Open in NASA Worldview · original from GIBS
Satellite image of Jasper National Park and the Jasper townsite, Alberta, Canada on 1 Sep 2024, after the event, in false colour (MODIS bands 7-2-1).
After: Aqua, 1 Sep 2024 · Open in NASA Worldview · original from GIBS

What the images show

On 10 July the valleys are green between tan and snow-flecked mountains. On 1 September a red-brown burn scar stretches along the main valley around Jasper, south of the lakes.

About the event

  • NASA Earth Observatory reported that multiple fires in Jasper National Park caused up to 25,000 visitors and residents to leave the area on 23 July 2024.

Limits of this comparison

The before-image is from Terra and the after-image from Aqua: the instruments are identical, but they pass at different times of day. Small scattered cloud sits over the after-image. At 250 metres the scar's outline is approximate.

Each image is one satellite pass at about 250 metres a pixel. It shows where water or burned land is visible from space on that day; it does not measure damage, and cloud or haze can hide what is underneath.

Dates were chosen by checking the imagery on both satellites for several days either side and keeping the clearest pass; the two images come from different satellites carrying the same instrument. Both use the same layer, MODIS Corrected Reflectance, bands 7-2-1.

Sources

We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Comparison slider: leaflet-side-by-side (MIT licence). Case last updated 13 Sep 2026.

Questions

What does the satellite image of Jasper National Park and the Jasper townsite, Alberta, Canada show?

On 10 July the valleys are green between tan and snow-flecked mountains. On 1 September a red-brown burn scar stretches along the main valley around Jasper, south of the lakes.

When were the two satellite images taken?

The before-image was taken by Terra, 10 Jul 2024 and the after-image by Aqua, 1 Sep 2024, 53 days apart.

What can this before-and-after comparison not show?

The before-image is from Terra and the after-image from Aqua: the instruments are identical, but they pass at different times of day. Small scattered cloud sits over the after-image. At 250 metres the scar's outline is approximate. Each image is one satellite pass at about 250 metres a pixel. It shows where water or burned land is visible from space on that day; it does not measure damage, and cloud or haze can hide what is underneath.

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