This true-color image of the United States’ eastern seaboard was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’sAqua satellite. The scene offers a space-based perspective on what people on the ground up and down the U.S. coast observed firsthand on July 21, 2004—the air overhead was very hazy that day. The haze is due to smoke being generated by widespread and intense wildfires burning in Alaska. The smoke has spread all across North America and is now being swept eastward over the Atlantic Ocean.
The high-resolution image available here is 500 meters per pixel. Copies of this scene at other resolutions are also available.
Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
