Alaska

Fires in Eastern Alaska

1 July 2005

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Lightning strikes have set Alaska ablaze in June 2005. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured on June 29 shows dozens of fires (marked in red) pouring thick smoke into the skies above the Yukon Flats region in the east-central part of the state. Near image right, a particularly smoky cluster of fires (see close-up view in bottom image) was burning near the Alaska-Canada border. (source: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/)

click on the scene for a 500m resolution
(source: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/)

Fires were creating a river of smoke that flowed across the Yukon Flats region of east-central Alaska on June 27, 2005. Almost 450,000 acres were ablaze in the state in late June; most of the fires were triggered by lightning. In this image, smoke dominates the lower-right quadrant of the scene, while active fire locations have been outlined in red. At the time this image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite, winds appear to have been from the east, which suggests the thick smoke plume is from the cluster of fires burning near the border between Alaska and Yukon Territory, Canada.

click on the scene for a 500m resolution
(source: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/)

NOAA-15 POES AVHRR HRPT: Heat signatures and smoke plumes from fires burning in eastern Alaska (27 June 2005, 16:39 UTC)

(source: http://www.osei.noaa.gov/ )

Latest satellite scenes (TERRA) from fires burning in Alaska:

TERRA
30 June 2005
22:10 hrs UTC
(Image courtesy MODIS)

True colour: Bands 1-4-3

False colour: Bands 7-2-1

The links provide a 500m resolution for all scenes.

Source:  MODIS,  all scenes from TERRA

For background information on theFire Situation in Alaska see:

• Alaska Fire Service website
• Geographic Information Network of Alaska
• Alaska Fire Service Report Page

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