Massive Smoke Plume Spied from Space

russia wildfires, bering sea images, wildfire smoke images, lake Baikal wildfires — A NASA satellite captured this image on May 11. (Image credit: NASA.)

As a diaphanous plume of smoke stretched out across the Bering Sea in early May, a passing satellite snapped a picture of the graceful haze.

A lovely image, indeed, yet it's likely the smoke is the result of a fiery inferno burning many miles to the west. In northern Russia, wildfires have been burning for days.

In a study published in 2004, scientists tracked the movement of smoke from Russian wildfires, and found that it typically travels in one of two directions: either northwest toward Scandinavia, or east toward the Sea of Okhotsk.

If the smoke blows east, if often crosses the Bering Sea and moves toward Alaska and Canada.

According to Russian media reports, more than 300 people, including 50 paratroopers and 100 firefighters, have been deployed to battle the fires burning in the remote Lake Baikal region.

Smoke from the fires has also affected air quality in China.

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