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Fires in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada

Terra image of Canadian fires
These fires are in the Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta and the Clearwater River Provincial Park in Saskatchewan.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard the Terra satellite captured this natural-color image of fires that are in both Alberta and Saskatchewan provinces in Canada. These fires are in the Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta and the Clearwater River Provincial Park in Saskatchewan. It is unclear whether these fires are prescribed fires, set to remove detritus, or if they are wildfires.
The wildfire season this year in Canada has been more active than usual so there is a strong possibility these could be wildfires. Each hot spot, which appears as a red mark, is an area where the thermal detectors on the MODIS instrument recognized temperatures higher than background. When accompanied by plumes of smoke, as in this image, such hot spots are diagnostic for fire.

NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption: NASA/Goddard, Lynn Jenner