Fires, smoke, and burns scars in Alaska - related image preview

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Fires, smoke, and burns scars in Alaska - related image preview

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Fires, smoke, and burns scars in Alaska

According to reports from the Alaska Forest Service, 50 active fires are burning in the state as of August 1, 2002. More than 1 million acres have burned so far this year. This Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image from August 1, 2002, shows multiple large fires (red dots) are emitting thick plumes of smoke that are blanketing the southern part of the state. The Yukon River comes in at upper right and flows toward the bottom left of the image.

These scattered large fires burning in Alaska may be the result of extreme lightning activity experienced from July 17 to the 19, 2002, when the region received 12,000 lightning strikes.

In this false-color image, vegetation is bright green, and burned areas are reddish brown.


Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Published August 2, 2002
Data acquired August 1 - 1, 2002

Source:
Terra > MODIS
Topic:
Human Dimensions > Natural Hazards > Fires
Collections:
MODIS Rapid Response
Visible Earth