NASA MODIS Image of the Day: May 14, 2012 – Smoke and fires in eastern Russia
Wildfires continued to burn across Eastern Russia in early May, 2012, billowing smoke that blanketed sections of Siberia, Mongolia and China. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image on May 8, 2012. Siberia is in the norther of the image, Mongolia lies to the southwest and China to the southeast. Most of the fires are burning in Zabaykalsky Krai in Siberia (Eastern Russia). This region is approximately 68% forest, and forest products and agriculture, along with mining, are the principal sources of income for the region. Wheat, barley and oats are grown, and animal breeding – sheep, cattle and reindeer – are also economically important. A fur trade also exists. Most fires in this region are begun by human activity, often by accident or by agricultural fires set to prepare cropland or pastureland for use. A warm spring with strong winds creates conditions ripe for fire to escape control and burn as wildfires.
