June 26, 2022 - Fires and Smoke over Siberia

Fires in Russia

Heavy smoke covered much of Siberia’s verdant taiga on June 24, 2022, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image. The dark gray smoke rose from numerous red hot spots, each marking an area of actively burning fire.

The fires seen in this image are burning in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) in the east and Krasnoyarsk Krai in the west. According to a report published on June 25 by Tayga.info, 23,800 hectares were on fire in Yakutia, wildfires were widespread, with 16,600 hectares on fire in the Siberian Federal District, Buryatia, and Transbaikalia. In Chukotka, located in the far northeast, 36,000 hectares were burning.

They also reported that the Commission for Prevention and Elimination of Emergency Situations (CES) decided to not fight fires currently active on more than 5,600 hectares in Krasnoyarsk Krai. The fires in the non-extinguish areas of Krasnoyarsk appear to have expanded rapidly, from 93 hectares in flames between June 15-21 to 5,600 hectares on June 25. While the acreage involved in fire beyond those not to be extinguished was not stated, about 500 million rubles had been dedicated to fire fighting in Krasnoyarsk in June.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 6/24/2022
Resolutions: 1km (564.7 KB), 500m (1.7 MB), 250m (4.6 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC