Fire on the North Slope of Alaska

Credit: Jeff Schmaltz; MODIS team; NASA, Posted on: Saturday, 29 September 2007, 05:11 CDT Download full size image

On July 16, 2007, lightning ignited a fire on Alaska’s North Slope. Since then, the landscape changed from summer green to autumn brown, but the fire was still burning on September 25, when the MODIS on NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead and captured this image.

Over the roughly two-month period, the fire burned about 222,500 acres. Places where MODIS detected active fire on this day are outlined in red. The burned area makes a dark brown, nearly rectangular scar between the Nanushuk and Itkillik Rivers. These rivers flow north and join the Colville River before emptying into the Arctic Ocean via Harrison Bay.

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