14 DAY TRIAL // The Ozone Mapping Profiler Suite (OMPS) instrument on the NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) Earth-observing satellite was recently used to observe the aerosol contaminants that were released in the atmosphere by wildfires in Russia and Africa.
The suite of images above was captured between July 30 and August 2 and centers on how aerosols were released in the atmosphere from Russia, and how these particulate clouds moved about over the next 3 days or so.
“The four images show the merging of smoke from forest fires burning in central and eastern Russia over a four-day period. High temperatures and lightning are believed to be the cause of these fires,” NASA scientists say in a statement.
According to Suomi-NPP readings, the smoke was close enough to the ground to cause air quality problems in several instances during this crisis. Additional images are available here.