The spate of Siberian wildfires began in July 2019 in areas difficult to access in northern Krasnoyarsk Krai, the Sakha Republic and Zabaykalsky Krai, all of which are within Russia’s Siberian Province. By the end of that month the size of the fires had reached 2.6 million hectares (ha) (6.4 million acres). According to Russian News Agency TASS quoting the Krasnoyarsk Forest Fire Center, the causes of forest fires are natural due to 30-degree Celsius heat (86 degrees Fahrenheit), gusts of wind and dry thunderstorms.
Per the Federal Forestry Agency of Russia on July 16, 2019:
“According to the information of the regional dispatching services of forestry, at 00:00 Moscow time on 16.08.2019 [August 16, 2019] on hard-to-reach and remote lands of the forest fund in the territory of the Russian Federation there are constantly monitored forest fire groups and are monitored by space monitoring of 289 forest fires on the area covered by fire, 2,395,751 ha (5.9 million acres) for which extinguishing work was stopped on the basis of decisions of the regional Commissions for the prevention and liquidation of emergency situations and ensuring fire safety, including:
– 155 fires in the area covered by fire, 880,224 ha (Republic of Sakha (Yakutia));
– 30 fires in the area covered by fire, 844,771 ha (Krasnoyarsk Territory);
– 48 fires in the area covered by fire, 516,433 ha (Irkutsk region);
– 33 fires in the area covered by the fire, 109,555 ha (Republic of Buryatia);
– 12 fires in the area covered by fire, 36,989 ha (Trans-Baikal Territory);
– 2 fires in the area covered by fire, 3,752 ha (Chukotka Autonomous Okrug);
– 5 fires in the area covered by fire, 2,895 ha (Amur region);
– 1 fire on the area covered by the fire, 675 hectares (Khabarovsk Territory);
– 3 fires in the area covered by fire, 457 ha (Kamchatka Territory).
For these fires, there is no threat to settlements and objects of the economy and the projected costs of extinguishing them exceed the projected damage that they may cause.”
There are 148 active fires in other areas that are still actively being fought which cover 244,556 ha (604,311 acres).
In this NOAA/NASA Suomi NPP satellite natural-color image taken by the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) instrument on August 15, 2019, the largest and most potent area of fire on this day seems to be in the Sakha Republic in Siberia where the Federal Forestry Agency notes 155 fires covering 880,224 ha (2.1 million acres) are burning. This is the area where the accumulation of smoke (seen in the image) is most dense, although smoke continues to be thick throughout the entire landscape. The Krasnoyarsk Territory is a close second with 844,771 ha (2 million acres) on fire. Most likely the fires not actively being fought will only be put out with the rains that come in October or the first snow.
NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Worldview application provides the capability to interactively browse over 700 global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers and then download the underlying data. Many of the available imagery layers are updated within three hours of observation, essentially showing the entire Earth as it looks “right now.” Actively burning fires, detected by thermal bands, are shown as red points. Image Courtesy: NASA Worldview, Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). Caption: Lynn Jenner with information from the Federal Forestry Agency of Russia’s website and the Russian News Agency TASS.