August 8, 2021 - Mediterranean Wildfires

Follow @NASA_MODIS

Fires
Tweet
Share

After sweating under an extreme and long-lasting heatwave, the
Mediterranean region is ablaze with wildfires.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board
NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image that captured
several fires along the northern Mediterranean coast on August 5, 2021.
Heavy smoke pours from several fires in Turkey and, in the west, many
large red “hotspots” are visible in Greece. Each red hotspot marks an
area where the thermal bands on the instrument detected high
temperatures. When combined with typical smoke, as in this image, such
hotspots are diagnostic for actively burning fire.

On August 4, the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring
Service (CAMS) called the Mediterranean a “wildfire hotspot”. They
reported that fire intensity, measured by “fire radiative power”, had
reached the highest daily values since records began in 2003. Fire
radiative power is a measure of energy released by wildfires and
biomass burning, and therefore is a measure of how much vegetation is
burned.

Much of southern Europe has been baking for months under extreme heat
not seen since the 1980s. National temperature records were set in both
Greece and Turkey in July and again in August. Air temperatures reached
47.1°C (117°F) in Greece and surrounding areas on August 3. Despite
ferocious downpours in central Europe, and rain falling near Antalya,
Turkey on August 7, the heatwave—and the fires—continue.

On August 7, fifty-five fires were reported burning across Greece, with
three large fires requiring evacuations. On the island of Evia, fire
has effectively split the island in two, separating the northern
section from the southern along the fire line. According to data from
the European Forest Fire Information System, in the last 10 days,
56,655 hectares (140,000 acres) have burned in Greece. Two people have
reportedly perished from the fires.

In Turkey, more than 200 fires have been reported in 47 provinces
across the country recently. The appearance of rain brought some relief
on August 7, but at the end of the day, thirteen fires continued to
blaze. The tourist-favored town of Mugla remains in peril from a nearby
inferno, with three neighborhoods under evacuation orders. Media
reports eight deaths attributed to wildfires in Turkey.

While Greece and Turkey have had the most notable and destructive
blazes in the past week, wildfires also are ramping up in neighboring
countries. Italy, Albania and North Macedonia are also facing extreme
fire weather and increasing numbers of blazes.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 8/5/2021
Resolutions: 1km (191.6 KB), 500m (638.3 KB), 250m (1.9 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=2021-08-08

--- up 13 weeks, 2 days, 12 hours, 15 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)