July 5, 2023 - Fire and Smoke in Russia's Far East

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The 2023 fire season in Russia started early and ferociously, with
wildfires erupting in early April as snow receded and green-up began.
By early June, a record-breaking heat wave gripped Siberia, sending
temperatures soaring to 37.9˚C (100.2˚F) in Jalturovosk. Two other
Siberian towns, Alexandrovskoe and Laryak also set all-time highs on
that date, recording temperatures of 36.1˚C (97˚F) and 34.9˚C (95˚F)
respectively. The heatwave helped dry out vegetation and spurred
wildfire growth across Siberia.

Near the end of June, storms with little rain but copious lightning
passed over Siberia, igniting multiple wildfires that quickly expanded
in the dry vegetation. On July 3, the head of the Republic of Sakha
wrote on the wrote on the Telegram messaging app that more than 110
forest fires were raging across about 61,000 hectares, roughly
three-quarters the size of New York City. On that same day, government
officials in the Russian Far East declared a state of emergency due to
the spreading wildfires.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board
NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over a portion of Siberia on July 2 and
acquired a true-color image of many dozens of fires burning in the
forests of the smoke-covered region. Each red “hot spot” marks actively
burning fire. These fires are burning in the Republic of Sakha (also
known as Yakutia), which is the largest republic of Russia and covers
about half of the Russian Far East. While the view from Aqua is
extensive, this image only shows part of the fires burning in Russia’s
Far East on that date. Additional fires extended well eastward into
Magadan Oblast and Kamchatka Krai.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/2/2023
Resolutions: 1km (646.1 KB), 500m (2.1 MB),
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2023-07-05

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