NASA satellite spots dozens of Russian wildfires

UST-KUT, Russia, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- NASA's Terra satellite recently spotted a cluster of wildfires burning in Siberia.

The image was captured by Terra's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, and processed by Jeff Schmaltz, a scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center.

The small red outlines seen in the photograph mark spikes in surface temperature sensed by MODIS, a sign of flames. Terra was able to make out several dozen fires and their plumes from an altitude of 440 miles.

In July, the EPIC camera on NOAA's Deep Space Climate Observatory spotted Siberian wildfires from more than one million miles away.

Many of the fires continue to burn north of the Russian city of Ust-Kut. The string of fires snake to the northwest. On the day Terra captured the photo, winds from the north and east pushed the wildfire plumes westward.

It's been a busy wildfire season in Russia. Several million acres have burned, destroying forests that may take decades -- and perhaps centuries -- to regrow.

Though warm temperatures remain across much of the United States, daylight and the warmth it provides are quickly becoming scarce in Siberia. The wildfire clouds partially obscure a forest canopy that's beginning to show the colors of autumn.