Satellite Sees Smoke from Siberian Fires Reach the U.S. Coast

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By Space Daily | 13 June 2012 | 156

Fires burning in Siberia recently sent smoke across the Pacific Ocean and into the U.S. and Canada. Images of data taken by the nation's newest Earth-observing satellite tracked aerosols from the fires taking six days to reach America's shores. Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite's Ozone Mapping Profiler Suite (OMPS) tracks aerosols, like this smoke, that are transported by winds across the globe. The Voice of Russia reported that 11,000 hectares (about 42.4 square miles) of forests in Siberia were on fire in May and that the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations says roughly 80 percent of these fires are intentionally set to clear land for farming. Read More