Smoke from Fires in Eastern Russia

This true-color global composite image gives some idea of the broad distribution of smoke from the intense fires burning in eastern Russia. As of May 14, 2003, the plume reached from Asia almost all the way to the western shores of North America. These data were collected by the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) between 14:46 UTC on May 13 and 14:32 UTC on May 14, 2003.

Each vertical image strip represents the width of the sensor’s viewing swath on each subsequent orbital overpass. The black areas show gaps in the data between viewing swaths. Note that the hazy-looking patches near the swath centers at about 20 degrees north latitude are backscattered sunlight, called “glint,” off the sea surface. There is also a low-pressure system off the west coast of North America in this mosaic.

References & Resources

Image provided by the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) Project, NASA-GSFC, and ORBIMAGE

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May 14, 2003

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