July 12, 2015JPEG

Fires have raged throughout Alaska in 2015. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this image on July 12, 2015. Actively burning areas, detected by the thermal bands on MODIS, are outlined in red.

According to the most recent update from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center, about 300 fires were actively burning when MODIS imaged the area. To date, fires have charred a total of 4,705,226 acres (1,904,137 hectares) in Alaska. That puts the 2015 fire season in sixth place on a list of Alaska’s largest fire seasons.

1. Further Reading

2. Alaska Department of Natural Resources (2015, July 13) Facebook update posted on July 13. Accessed July 15, 2015.
3. Alaska Interagency Coordination Center (2015, July 13) Situation Report: 07/15/2015. Accessed July 15, 2015.
4. The Washington Post (2015, July 13) The stunning statistic that puts this year’s Alaskan wildfires in perspective. Accessed July 15, 2015.

NASA images by Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response. Caption by Adam Voiland.