Unique View of Russian Wildfires

Published: August 10th, 2010

Andrew Freedman

Russians suffered through yet another day in the relentless and incredibly intense heat wave of 2010, as wildfires continued to burn uncontained and the government increasingly focused on appearing in command of the situation. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is famous for his public relations stunts, even took control of a firefighting aircraft, and went online to rebut criticism from the blogosphere of the government's emergency response services. The wildfire smoke has led to dangerously poor air quality across many sections of Western Russia, with many scenes of Muscovites wearing masks in order to safely venture outside.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), using data from NASA's MODIS satellite, just put out this fascinating image of smoke from the wildfires. The image shows readings of "aerosol optical depth," which is a measurement of the particles lofted into the air by the fires. Satellites can detect the smoke because particles alter how the atmosphere absorbs and reflects light. A low optical thickness means the sky is quite clear, whereas a high reading indicates hazy conditions.

Excessive heat waves combined with intense smoke plumes have created very dangerous air quality conditions over much of Western Russia. As seen in this aerosol optical depth data from the NASA MODIS satellite, areas of deep orange (false colored) indicated very hazy conditions and poor air quality. Credit: NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory

Russian authorities estimate that at least 700 people per day have been dying due to the heat and poor air quality. This event may eventually rival the 2003 European heat wave, which contributed to the deaths of an estimated 40,000 people. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, heat and poor air quality pose significant health risks to the elderly, persons with respiratory ailments, and other segments of the population.