For several weeks, strong winds have been getting the better of brush fires in Russia’s Far East. According to news reports, intentional grass and brush fires set by people to get ready for the spring growing season have escaped control in several areas, forcing evacuations and causing at least two deaths. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite shows large, smoky fires (locations marked in red) in the Amur Oblast’ of eastern Russia southeast of the city of Zeya, on April 22, 2008. Beneath the thick smoke, dark brown burn scars are visible on the tan (winter dormant) landscape.
You can download a 250-meter-resolution KMZ file of the fires suitable for use with Google Earth.
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NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey.
