• MODIS Pic of the Day 10 August 2022

    From Dan Richter@1:317/3 to All on Wed Aug 10 12:00:14 2022
    August 10, 2022 - Widespread Fire and Smoke across Siberia

    Fires in Russia
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    As summer temperatures soar in Siberia, wildfires continue to consume
    taiga and pump thick smoke into the atmosphere.

    Oh August 5, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
    (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image
    showing many dozens of large fires burning across Siberia. Clusters of
    fires can be seen both in Western and Northern Siberia. Heavy gray and
    brown smoke pours from the western fires, blowing eastward. An
    extremely thick blanket of smoke—so thick that it obscures the land
    beneath from view—covers an area of about 240,000 square kilometers
    (92,655 square miles). That is an area larger than Ghana, or almost as
    large as the United Kingdom.

    The large cluster of fires in Western Siberia are burning in
    Khanty-Mansi autonomous area (Yugra). On August 9, 2022, the Russian
    News Agency TASS reported that the area of active forest fires in Yugra
    measures 84,082 hectares, with 20 of those fires encompassing 34,760
    hectares. That is an increase of almost 1,000 hectares in 24 hours. The
    Governor of the area was reported to ascribe the growth to abnormally
    hot weather, lack of precipitation, frequent thunderstorms, and gusting
    winds.

    The cluster of fires in Northern Siberia are located primarily in
    Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (YNAO), with some also in northwestern
    Krasnoyarsk Krai. YNAO sits extremely far north, with more than fifty
    percent of the land located north of the Arctic Circle.

    AK&M Information Agency reported on August 8 that, “According to
    Avialesookhrana, a subordinate organization of the Federal Forestry
    Agency, 297 forest fires were extinguished in 40 regions of Russia last
    week, 1,417 fighters of the Aviation Security and ground forest
    services of the interregional level were involved in extinguishing. The
    main causes of forest fires: the human factor and thunderstorms, the
    Federal Forestry Agency reported. The largest number of fires were
    eliminated in: Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, KhMAO, the Republics
    of Komi, Buryatia, Sakha (Yakutia), Altai, Krasnoyarsk, Kamchatka, Perm
    Krai, Chelyabinsk Region.”

    Image Facts
    Satellite: Aqua
    Date Acquired: 8/5/2022
    Resolutions: 1km (1.9 MB), 500m (6.1 MB),
    Bands Used: 1,4,3
    Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



    https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-08-10

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