July 2, 2013 - Fires in western Quebec

Fires in western Quebec

On June 19, 2013, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of a large, complex wildfire burning in Quebec, near the shoreline of James Bay, which forms the southern tip of Hudson Bay. Red outlines indicate hot spots where MODIS detected unusually warm surface temperatures. When combined with typical smoke plumes, as seen in this image, such hotspots indicate active wildfires. Winds push thick smoke to the northeast.

According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center, Inc on June 30 a total of 301 fires had consumed 597,619 acres in Quebec this fire season. Last year (2012), there were a total of 392 fires which burned 68,812 acres.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 6/19/2013
Resolutions: 1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC