NASA MODIS Image of the Day: October 9, 2012 – Fires across northern Yugoslavia
Fires have been burning in southeastern Europe all summer long and they do not seem to be abating. This true-color satellite image was collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite on October 04, 2012. Actively burning areas, detected by MODIS’s thermal bands, are outlined in red. The area captured in this image encompasses much the region formerly known as Yugoslavia. The country now known as the Republic of Serbia (center of the image) and surrounding countries are currently dealing with a widespread heatwave and dry conditions, each of which can lead to forest fires. Serbian authorities have evacuated thousands of people as wildfires rage in a number of villages in the southwest of the country with the worst fires in the Cacak region. Blazes have destroyed hundreds of acres of forests and bush in Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro. Some of the fires raging on the border between Serbia and Kosovo (not seen in this photo) are too dangerous to fight because of minefields left over from the war over the former Serbian province in 1999.
