1. Hercules 265 Natural Gas Platform Blaze Detected by VIIRS Nightfire July 24, 2013 NOAA-NGDC Earth Observation Group chris.elvidge@noaa.gov

2. Background The blaze began about 10:50 p.m. local time, July 23, on the Hercules 265 natural gas platform, which is located around 55 miles off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico.

3. Blaze Was Detected By VIIRS at 02:33 a.m. local time (CDT) Hercules 265 NGDC processes VIIRS data collected by the ground station operated by the University of Wisconsin. The detection was available at NGDCs web site at 04:26 CDT

4. Combustion Parameters