Lake Baikal is a rift lake formed by the movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates. Rift lakes tend to be very deep because of this and Lake Baikal is the deepest freshwater lake in the world by volume containing about 20% of the world’s unfrozen surface fresh water. Because of its very nature as a freshwater lake, this lake is also home to thousands of species of plants and animals. The unprecedented warm weather in this area has led to devastating wildfires around Lake Baikal as seen in this satellite image. Forest fires can be extremely hazardous to local ecosystems. Thousands of hectares have burned so far during the fire season in Siberia and this fire season has only just begun.
This image was taken by the Suomi NPP satellite using the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) instrument on June 15, 2016. Actively burning areas, detected by MODIS’s thermal bands, are outlined in red. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC. Caption by Lynn Jenner.