Media reports of an act of sabotage along oil pipelines in northern Iraq could explain the black cloud of oil smoke visible in this image of the region, captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite on August 17, 2003.
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 Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC