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Fires in Central Asian Steppes

NASA Earth Observatory

Oct 15, 2003
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2003-10-14 00:00:00
October 14, 2003

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite captured this image of scores of fires burning across the southern Russia-northern Kazakhstan steppes on October 14, 2003. The fires are probably agricultural in purpose, perhaps burning crop stubble to prepare for a planting of winter grains. A large smoke plume stretches across the scene, and fires are marked with red dots. The dark green patches at right are wetlands located southwest of the Ob’ River.

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Image courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC

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2003-10-14 00:00:00

October 14, 2003

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