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tests, which prevented the Forest Service from adding new planes last fire season.
• Last week, the first 2013 fire season outlook from the National Interagency Fire Center said a dry winter and a warm spring put the wildfire potential above normal across the West.
• The effort to boost the air tanker fleet comes as the Forest Service enters fire season with 500 fewer firefighters and 50 fewer fire engines than last year due to budget cuts mandated by Congress under what is known as the sequester. The firefighting budget stands at about $2 billion.
• Forest Service Fire and Aviation Director Tom Harbour said the department will compensate by repositioning crews and equipment to areas of the highest risk.
• The contracts announced were:
• -- Minden Air Corp., of Minden, Nev., for one BAe-146.
• -- Aero Air LLC, of Hillsboro, Ore., for two MD87s.
• -- Aero Flite Inc., of Kingman, Ariz., for two Avro RJ85s.
• -- Coulson Aircrane (USA) Inc., of Portland, Ore., for one C130Q.
• 10 Tanker Air Carrier LLC of Adelanto, Calif., for one DC-10.
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New satellite appears to be working flawlessly
DIRK LAMMERS,Associated Press
• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- A new satellite hovering nearly 450 miles above the Earth appears to working flawlessly as it embarks on a 10-year mission to document the planet's surface, scientists and engineers at the U.S. Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation and Science Center said Monday.
• Landsat 8 is sending more than 400 data-filled images per day back to the EROS center north of Sioux Falls, where they will be archived and made available for free download by scientists or anyone else who's interested.
• The center's mission requires images to be publicly available within 48 hours of their capture, those most will be ready within 24 hours, said project scientist Tom Loveland.
• The new orbiter has several advantages over its still-functioning predecessor Landsat 7, which captures just 250 images a day. Landsat 8 also boasts two new spectral bands, one to see deeper into oceans, lakes and rivers and another to detect cirrus clouds and correct for atmospheric effects, Loveland said.
• The new satellite's infrared band is split into two, allowing for more accurate surface temperature readings, he added.
• "It should really make a difference in our ability to map and characterize changes (Continued on page 22)
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