(Press-News.org) The wildfires that have been plaguing the Northern Territories in Canada and have sent smoke drifting down to the Great Lakes in the U.S. continue on. NASA's Aqua satellite collected this natural-color image with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, MODIS, instrument on July 26, 2014. Actively burning areas, detected by MODIS's thermal bands, are outlined in red. Copious amount of smoke are drifting northward in this image. Smoke is also creating havoc for residents of Yellowknife. Fire has caused power outages in the area and because of the smoke, line crews are unable to get to the source of the power outage for repairs due to the heavy smoke in the area. On July 22, the smoke index was 10 (as high as it can go) and all residents were cautioned to stay indoors because the smoke was too unhealthy to breathe.
Forest fires this year have destroyed more than 893,000 hectares (2,206,651 acres) in the Northwest Territories. Lightning has been blamed for the majority of fires in the territory.
INFORMATION:
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC. Caption by Lynn Jenner
Wildfires continue near Yellowknife, Canada
2014-07-29
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