When lightning storms passed over the Canadian province of British Columbia in July and August 2018, they ignited several hundred fires in forests that were already primed to burn. Abnormally <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/programs-and-services/drought-watch/canadian-drought-monitor/?id=1463575104513">hot, dry weather</a> had stressed vegetation and parched the soil. And infestations of <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/farming-natural-resources-and-industry/forestry/forest-health/mountain-pine-beetle/bcmpbv132015kill.pdf">mountain pine beetle</a> had left many forests with large numbers of dead trees.
<p>The <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/operational-land-imager-oli/">Operational Land Imager</a> (OLI) on <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/operational-land-imager-oli/">Landsat 8</a> captured this <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/FalseColor/">natural-color</a> image of smoke lingering in valleys near the snow-capped peaks of the Coast Mountains on August 7, 2018.
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Plumes of wildfire smoke can have a significant impact on people and the environment. Small particles in smoke <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=smoke.index">pose a health risk</a> because they can easily enter the lungs and bloodstream. And dark particles in smoke can land on snow and ice and <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/06/26/wildfires-can-cause-glaciers-to-melt-from-over-a-thousand-miles-away-scientists-find/?utm_term=.1b4eb4c52d53">accelerate melting</a> by absorbing heat and reducing the reflectivity of the surface.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://earthdata.nasa.gov/earth-observation-data/near-real-time/rapid-response">LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response</a> and Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Adam Voiland.
2018-08-07
<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/92604/smoke-blankets-british-columbia">https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/92604/smoke-blankets-british-columbia</a>