NASA Sees Siberian Wildfires from Orbit

Massive wildfires are currently burning in the Russian tundra, astronomers at NASA say. Using the American space agency's Aqua satellite, they were able to capture an orbital image of the Khabarovsk region of eastern Russia yesterday, August 28.

The view, snapped by Aqua's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument, shows numerous fires spanning the area, each producing billowing clouds of smoke that obscure the ground underneath.

While the instrument cannot detect open flames directly, it is able to pinpoint locations where surface temperatures are unusually hot. Scientists circled these areas in red, and you can see just how many there are. Portions of Siberia have been burning all summer, Russian authorities say.

Back in 2010, several hundred wildfires affected the western parts of the country, killing in excess of 55,700 people, and destroying at least 2,000 buildings.