LA Fires From Space
One of the practical applications of supercomputing is bringing you
images like this.
See more NASA images of last weekend's LA fires. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite shows the Los Angeles metropolitan area on November 16, 2008. Places where the sensor detected active fires are outlined in red.
My condolences go out to all of those who lost their homes, were injured, or otherwise suffered from the fires. While supercomputers can't prevent wildfires, they are an important tool for everything from designing the satellite that took these images, to processing the images, to helping us better understand short and long range weather patterns.