August 26, 2016 - Oil fires in Iraq

Oil fires in Iraq

Oil fires in Iraq continued to pour chocolate-colored smoke on August 19, 2016, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured a true-color image of the region.

At least three red hotspots sit west of the Tigris River, each spot indicating an area where the thermal sensors on the MODIS instrument detected high temperatures. Thick smoke hangs close to the hotspots, then blows to the southwest before arch west, then northwest over the light tan of the desert.

Little information specific to the fires in this image are available. However, an earlier image of this event was captured on August 17 and published as the MODIS Image of the Day on August 20. To view the previous image, go to http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2016-08-20.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 8/19/2016
Resolutions: 1km (34.3 KB), 500m (122.8 KB), 250m (307.3 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC