Images
June 26, 2023 - Canadian Wildfires
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Wildfires continued to blaze across Central Canada in late June 2023, pouring rivers of smoke high into the atmosphere. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of the fiery scene on June 22.
Each red “hot spot” marks an area where the thermal bands on the MODIS instrument detected high temperatures. When combined with smoke, as in this image, such hot spots mark actively burning fire. All of the fires in this image, except for the one farthest to the west, are burning in the province of Quebec. The western one is located in Ontario, near the border with Quebec. Given the location and quantity of dark smoke, most appear to be burning in boreal forests and/or in areas with peat-laden soils. Peat, which can be found in moist boreal ecozones, is exceptionally smoky when burned and is also difficult to fully extinguish.
Wildfires have plagued both Western and Central Canada this spring, with an exceptionally early start to fire season in British Columbia and Alberta. By early June, a wildfire outbreak struck the province of Quebec. Wildfires in both locations have continued through the month of June.
On June 23, the Society for the Protection of Forests Against Fire (SOPFEU) reported that 81 fires were burning in the Intensive Protective Zone (the area in which all fires are normally fought to extinguish), with 31 more in the Northern Zone. Twenty-five of the total fires were considered out of control. Active fires covered 1,054,171 hectares (ha) in the IPZ and 999,152 ha in the Northern Zone.
A large and dedicated crew of firefighters from Canada have been supplemented with crews from several countries, and they have made headway on many of the wildfires. The weather, however, has made fire control very difficult. On June 25, the Quebec provincial government warned that, “Due to low precipitation and rising temperatures, flammability indices vary from very high to extreme in several regions of Québec. These weather conditions could reinvigorate existing wildfires and lead to the outbreak of new fires.”
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 6/22/2023
Resolutions:
1km (3.1 MB), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Wildfires continued to blaze across Central Canada in late June 2023, pouring rivers of smoke high into the atmosphere. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of the fiery scene on June 22.
Each red “hot spot” marks an area where the thermal bands on the MODIS instrument detected high temperatures. When combined with smoke, as in this image, such hot spots mark actively burning fire. All of the fires in this image, except for the one farthest to the west, are burning in the province of Quebec. The western one is located in Ontario, near the border with Quebec. Given the location and quantity of dark smoke, most appear to be burning in boreal forests and/or in areas with peat-laden soils. Peat, which can be found in moist boreal ecozones, is exceptionally smoky when burned and is also difficult to fully extinguish.
Wildfires have plagued both Western and Central Canada this spring, with an exceptionally early start to fire season in British Columbia and Alberta. By early June, a wildfire outbreak struck the province of Quebec. Wildfires in both locations have continued through the month of June. On June 23, the Society for the Protection of Forests Against Fire (SOPFEU) reported that 81 fires were burning in the Intensive Protective Zone (the area in which all fires are normally fought to extinguish), with 31 more in the Northern Zone. Twenty-five of the total fires were considered out of control. Active fires covered 1,054,171 hectares (ha) in the IPZ and 999,152 ha in the Northern Zone.
A large and dedicated crew of firefighters from Canada have been supplemented with crews from several countries, and they have made headway on many of the wildfires. The weather, however, has made fire control very difficult. On June 25, the Quebec provincial government warned that, “Due to low precipitation and rising temperatures, flammability indices vary from very high to extreme in several regions of Québec. These weather conditions could reinvigorate existing wildfires and lead to the outbreak of new fires.”
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 6/22/2023
Resolutions:
1km (3.1 MB), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
