Russia has had quite a severe wildfire season in 2016, but the latest Aqua satellite images shows that the wildfire season may be letting up, if only for a time. This natural-color satellite image was collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite on Sept. 05, 2016. Actively burning areas, detected by MODIS’s thermal bands, are outlined in red. When compared with satellite images from earlier in the year, this image shows significantly less fire activity than in June of this year. This could be just a lull in the activity or hopefully, could be the slowing of the wildfire season in Russia. The wildfire season is not over yet, and the coming months will tell whether this fire season in Russia is a record breaker. For now, it seems to be the calm within the storm.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption: NASA/Goddard, Lynn Jenner