July 28, 2007 - Fires Across the Balkan Peninsula

Jeff Schmaltz / MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC · Download full size image

Several days, ago, we had an image of fires in southern Europe from July 22, 2007. Today's image is from July 25, 2007, and it shows the many fires that still dot the landscape of Southern Europe. This image, captured by the MODIS on the Aqua satellite, shows the Balkan Peninsula.

The fires, represented by red dots, pumped out thick plumes of smoke that blanketed the region with haze. A thin white-gray pall of smoke hangs over the Ionian Sea southwest of Greece, and additional smoke covers the Black Sea in the northeast (visible in the large image). The Aegean Sea to the east of Greece likely also had smoke-filled skies, but sunlight reflecting off the surface of the water masks the haze from view in this image.

The fires caused a state of emergency in Macedonia, and Greece put its northern forests under constant watch fearing further fire outbreaks, reported BBC News on July 25. The fires were fueled by extreme, desiccating heat starting in mid-July. Super-hot air pushed north from Africa and settled over much of southeastern Europe, where temperatures climbed above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). As many 500 died in the heat in Hungary (north of the area shown here), and the high demand for power caused black-outs in Greece, Kosovo, and Montenegro, said the BBC. Posted on: 18 Feb, 2008

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