Yosemite Wildfire Seen from Space (Photo)

Yosemite fire from space — The gray cloud shaped like an arrowhead at the center of this image is smoke from the Meadow Fire burning in Yosemite National Park. This image was captured by NASA's Aqua satellite on Sept. 7, 2014.

(Image credit: NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC)

After a dramatic growth spurt this week, a wildfire burning in California's Yosemite National Park forced hikers to evacuate and produced a billowing veil of smoke that can be seen from space.

NASA's Earth-watching Aqua satellite saw Yosemite aflame on Sunday (Sept. 7) from its perch 450 miles (725 kilometers) above the planet. The image, released today (Sept. 9) by NASA's Earth Observatory and acquired by Aqua's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), shows the smoke plume from the so-called Meadow Fire.

When the wildfire was sparked by lightning several weeks ago, it wasn't an immediate cause for concern. In its first 49 days, the blaze had charred just 19 acres (8 hectares) of forest. However, strong winds swept through the area this month, causing the flames to spread. By Sunday (Sept. 7), the fire had burned 400 acres (162 hectares). As of yesterday (Sept. 8), the fire had burned 2,582 acres (1,044 hectares), according to the National Park Service. [See Photos of Another Fire that Scorched Yosemite]

Latest Videos From

Watch full video here:

This week, rescue crews had to airlift 85 people from the summit of the Half Dome, Yosemite's iconic granite formation that rises almost 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) above the valley floor. Another 100 hikers and backpackers were also evacuated from Little Yosemite Valley, where the fire is burning on both sides of the Merced River, according to the National Park Service. Trails in the area have been closed and park officials warned that the fire could degrade air quality in the region as smoke drains into Yosemite Valley.

Despite its dramatic growth, the fire is still quite small compared to others that have scorched this part of California. Around this time last year, firefighters were battling a much bigger blaze in and around Yosemite National Park. Dubbed the Rim Fire, it was the largest forest fire on record in the Sierra Nevada. That fire quickly spread after it was sparked by a hunter's campfire on Aug. 17, 2013, in the Stanislaus National Forest, next to Yosemite. By the time the flames were contained in late September, about 257,134 acres or 402 square miles (1,041 square kilometers) of land had been burned.

Megan has been writing for Live Science and Space.com since 2012. Her interests range from archaeology to space exploration, and she has a bachelor's degree in English and art history from New York University. Megan spent two years as a reporter on the national desk at NewsCore. She has watched dinosaur auctions, witnessed rocket launches, licked ancient pottery sherds in Cyprus and flown in zero gravity. Follow her on Twitter and Google+.