FARGO (KFGO-AM) - Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison say they were "shocked" by the images of last month's fiery oil train derailment near Casselton picked up by earth observation satellites.
Scott Bachmeier is a researcher at the University's Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies. He heard about the derailment and didn't think it would be noticeable from the satellites that are more than 22,000 miles above earth.
The satellite images clearly show the dark smoke plume quickly appear and then drift to the southeast. The heat signature went from dark grey to black as the fires intensified.