Night Views of Fires in Siberia

The vast majority of Russian wildfires occur in Siberia, generally along the southern border. This year’s blazes have followed the typical pattern and occurred primarily east of the Urals. This pair of images from August 3, 2012 shows fires using two different instruments. The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite carries an instrument called the “day-night band,” designed to be sensitive to such low levels of visible light that it can detect wildfires in the dark of the night. On August 3, 2012, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on Suomi NPP acquired the right image of wildfires blazing in eastern Siberia. The white outlines are the actively burning perimeters of several fires.

See earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=78767