Smoke spread in a thick blanket over eastern Alaska on June 30, 2004. This image of Alaska and a small portion of Yukon Territory, Canada (right), shows the smoky skies and the locations of numerous wildfires. The image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite. Areas where MODIS detected active fire are outlined in red.
In Alaska, the landscape is already changing over to its fall wardrobe, with summerâ€™s green being traded for brown and gold. Fires, some of which have been burning since before the beginning of summer, were still smoldering on September 7, 2004.