Bright orange fire scars show up the underlying dune sand in the Simpson Desert, 300 km east of Alice Springs, Australia.  The background is an intricate pattern of sand cordons that angle across the view from lower left to upper right.  These cordons were once shifting, but they have become more or less tied down by a vegetation mat of desert scrub.

Fires first came from the lower left, parallel with the dune trend and prevailing wind direction.  Then the wind shifted by 90° and fires advanced in a series of frond-like tendrils.  Sharp tips of the fronds show where the fires burned out naturally.  The sharp edges of the fire scars are due to steady but weak southwesterly winds, which reduced sparking of more fires in adjacent scrub on either side of the main fire pathways.

Image: ISS Crew Earth Observations, and Image Science & Analysis Group, Johnson Space Center, NASA