South of the snow line in eastern Russia, numerous fires were burning and filling the skies with thick smoke on April 23, 2003. This Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) from the Aqua satellite shows the fires marked with red dots in Russia (top) and China (bottom). Dark brown burn scars are associated with many of the fires, and the smoke covers thousands of square kilometers.
The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS’ maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters.
Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
