Fires Surrounding Lake Baikal

Fires Surrounding Lake Baikal

Forest fires (marked with red dots) surround southern Russia’s Lake Baikal on June 9, 2003. Scores of fires are burning in a variety of ecosystems, including mature spruce forests, cedar forests, and mixed forests. Smoke from these fires has been streaming across eastern Russia and China and out over the Pacific Ocean off and on for months, and has traveled around the world, reaching Canada and the United States. This true-color image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite.

The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS’ maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters.

Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC