Feux de forets dans la province de l'Alberta, Canada

Tan and gray smoke spanned hundreds of kilometers across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Northwest Territories, Canada, on May 16, 2011. At 10:00 a.m., the Alberta government reported 116 fires burning in the province, 34 of which were out of control. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite took this image at 12:35 p.m. local time. Similar images of central Canada are available twice daily.


The top view shows a wide area to illustrate how far the smoke traveled. The lower image provides a closer view of a massive fire burning south of Lake Athabasca. Fire detections are outlined in red. Strong winds fanned the fires on May 15 and 16, pulling thick plumes of smoke north.


The fires have forced transport and oil operations to stop, reported CBC News. Fires near Lesser Slave Lake destroyed 40 percent of the town of Slave Lake on May 15. Fire conditions continue to be extreme in much of northern Alberta on May 16.