South of the Irtysh River, at the southern end of the West Siberian Plain, numerous fires (red outlines) were burning when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this photo-like image on May 15, 2009. The area is a major wheat-growing area in Russia, and most of the fires have probably been set by people for clearing farmland or pasture. (Such fires do sometimes get out of control and burn into surrounding natural areas.) The burned ground appears deep brown.
NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey.
