In Russia’s Far East, numerous fires were burning along the border with China on May 23, 2006. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite shows locations where MODIS detected actively burning fires marked in red. Thick smoke pours from many fires and spreads over a wide area. According to a Russian news report, forest fire activity in the Far East was more than 3.5 times higher in spring 2006 than in spring 2005. The Amur region, which takes up most of the right side of the scene, has suffered the most.
NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team.
